








">o x 







































A'** 



































«H°^ 



:,-" 














I 






<£ 

^ 



> 









A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



AgttttB 

THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

LONDON AND EDINBURGH 

THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 

TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO 

KARL W. HIERSEMANN 

LEIPZIG 

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY 

NEW YORK 



A SHORT HISTORY 
OF BELGIUM 



BY 

LEON VAN DER ESSEN, PH.D., LL.D. 

Professor of History in the University of Lowvain 

Member of the Royal Academy of Archaeology 

of Belgium 




THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



jiH 



s^ 3 



Copyright 1915 By 
The University of Chicago 



All Rights Reserved 



Published January 1916 



JAN 13 1916 



Composed and Printed By 

The University of Chicago Pres9 

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. 



©GLA418447 



TO 

ALBERT I 

King of the Belgians 

the knight without fear and without reproach 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 1 

CHAPTER 

I. The Period of Formation 8 

II. The Period of Feudalism 17 

III. The Rise and Influence of the Communes . . 36 

IV. The Politics and Struggles of the Time of the 
Communes 55 

V. The Union of the Belgian Principalities under 
the Dukes of Burgundy 74 

VI. Belgium under Charles V (1506-55) and the 

Beginnings of the House of Hapsburg ... 94 

VII. Philip II and the Revolt of the Netherlands 

against Spanish Rule (1555-96) 101 

VIII. The Reign of the Archduke Albert and Isa- 
bella (1598-1633) . 120 

IX. The Last Years of the Spanish Rule (1633- 

1715) 125 

X. Belgium under the House of Austria (1713-89) 130 

XI. Belgium under French Domination (1792-1814) 141 

XII. The Dutch Rule and the Belgian Revolt of 

1830 145 

XIII. Independent Belgium 163 

Epilogue 167 

Bibliography 168 



INTRODUCTION 

The "New York Times Review of Books" of June 20, 
1915, called attention to the comparative scarcity of books 
on Belgium among the literary productions resulting from 
the war, and continued: "Why Belgium finds so scant a 
space in the war bibliographies is a question difficult to 
answer. Certainly, no country has aroused the popular 
sympathy and enthusiasm of the world to a like degree 
with this little kingdom, occupying a geographical area of 
about one-fourth the state of Pennsylvania, yet perform- 
ing deeds of valour and enduring martyrdoms that place it 
beyond all comparison in greatness. If the war has a hero 
it is Belgium: hence, one argues, that country should fill 
a prominent instead of a slight section in the literature of 
the great conflict." 

This idea, doubtless, it was that induced the University 
of Chicago Press to propose that I write and publish under 
its auspices a Short History of Belgium, with material 
drawn from the course of lectures I gave on the history of 
Belgium at the University of Chicago during the Winter 
Quarter of 1915. 

This Short History of Belgium, of course, is not a "war 
book" and cannot be placed among those books classed as 
war literature. The circumstances of its being written 
have some connection, of course, with the great war, but 
it hardly needs to be said that this history is objective and 
tries simply to give an account of the past history of the 
Belgian people, leaving entirely out of consideration their 
present deeds and sufferings. By consulting that history 

1 



2 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

the reader will, however, be able to understand much 
more clearly than he did before why the Belgian nation 
of today took the stand it has taken in the great war and 
preferred honor in place of dishonor, and struggle for free- 
dom in place of ease. The fight of the Flemish com- 
munes against the King of France in the fourteenth 
century, the great struggle against Spain in the six- 
teenth century, the revolt against Austrian rule in the 
eighteenth century, and the revolution of 1830 are ex- 
amples and inspiration for the Belgians of today. 

There has been much discussion about the time at which 
Belgian history should be said to begin. Belgium, as an 
entirely autonomous, independent kingdom, has existed 
only since 1830. But the Belgium of 1830 was, in a cer- 
tain way, a creation of European diplomacy and the result 
of centuries of struggle for personal and political freedom. 
Belgium, as a country, and the Belgians, as a people, 
existed long before. Since the time of Caesar (57 B.C.), 
history tells us of the Belgians, "the bravest of all the 
people of Gaul," and, although the Germanic invasions of 
the fourth and fifth centuries have added a new ethnical 
element to the old Belgian stock, it is from the time of the 
Roman conqueror that the history of the Belgian people 
really begins. As for Belgium as a united political body, 
one must go back to the fifteenth century, when the dukes 
of Burgundy succeeded in unifying all the Belgian duchies 
and counties under one dynasty. Before that time, Bel- 
gium had practically consisted of two very distinct parts, 
Lotharingia in the east, Flanders in the west, separated 
by the river Scheldt. Lotharingia was, politically speak- 
ing, a part of the mediaeval German empire; Flanders was 
in subjugation to the kingdom of France. Each succeeded 



INTRODUCTION 3 

— Lotharingia first, then Flanders — in evading the politi- 
cal domination of Germany and France, respectively, and 
drew closer and closer together during the last centuries 
of the Middle Ages. That work of union was achieved 
by the Burgundian dukes, who inherited from the local 
Lotbaringian and Flemish dynasties, in the fifteenth cen- 
tury. 

But in the Middle Ages not only did the increasing tend- 
ency of union between Lotharingia and Flanders exist, 
but there was also a strong factor of national union, the 
common civilization, the common culture, of Lotharingia 
and Flanders. The inhabitants of the different duchies 
and counties were united by the same religion, the same 
artistic and economic aims, the same political institutions, 
although there were, of course, some local differences of 
minor importance. Since early in the Middle Ages the 
Belgian people had possessed a distinctive though mutu- 
ally common civilization, and the local differences which 
existed and which were more or less well defined at the 
outset disappeared gradually as the different parts of the 
country drew closer together politically. 

The history of Belgium and the Belgian people does not 
begin to date merely from 1830, not even from the fifteenth 
century. It dates in fact from the time when, during the 
fifth century, Gallo-Romans and Germanic invaders inter- 
mingled and laid the basis of that ethnical and linguistic 
duality that has been for many centuries the characteris- 
tic of the Belgian populace and has impressed its mark on 
the whole course of Belgian history. 

The real unity of the history of Belgium in ante- 
modern times has been brought into notice by one of 
Belgium's leading historians, Henri Pirenne, professor in 



4 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

the University of Ghent, in his admirable work, Histoire 
de Belgique. Before the publication of this work, few 
scholars understood how to treat the history of Belgium 
during the Middle Ages. Having in mind only the politi- 
cal aspect of that history, they were lost in the particular 
history of the various duchies and counties; they saw 
scarcely any link between the facts of these different his- 
torical sections, and they forgot entirely to take account 
of the unifying factor — the common culture and civiliza- 
tion. 

Since historians have had their attention called to that 
unifying factor, the history of Belgium has been looked 
upon in a different manner. It is in the light of that 
method that I shall try to explain the course of the his- 
torical development of the country. 

The national culture of Belgium is a synthesis, if I may 
so call it, where one finds the genius of two races — the 
Romance and the Germanic — mingled, yet modified by 
the imprint of the distinctively Belgian. It is in that very 
receptivity — the fact that it has absorbed and unified the 
best elements of Latin and Teutonic civilization — that the 
originality of the Belgian national culture resides. 

These distinctive marks of national culture, denoting 
the unity of a people, and serving, both in the Middle Ages 
and today, to distinguish the Belgian nation from the 
other nations of Europe, may be described as a common 
desire for independence and freedom, a jealous regard for 
those popular rights which serve as a guaranty of the con- 
tinuance of independence and freedom, and a deeply 
religious spirit. In the course of their history the Belgians 
have always cast off the yoke of those princes who, like 
Philip II, Joseph II, and William I of Holland, attacked 



INTRODUCTION 5 

their liberties and privileges, or who, like Joseph II and 
William I of Holland, tried to impose their own religious 
beliefs on them. 

Those characteristics of the Belgian nation, as well as 
its common civilization, were born during the Middle 
Ages. For that reason I shall deal in a special manner 
with the different aspects of religious, artistic, literary, and 
economic life during that period. After the treatment of 
the political unity of the Belgian provinces achieved in the 
fifteenth century, more attention will be given to the 
political aspect of events, without, however, entirely 
neglecting the different forms of popular life and social 
activity. 

The history of Belgium may be divided into the follow- 
ing periods: (1) the formative period, including the time 
of the Roman occupation, the invasion of the Franks, and 
the reign of Charles the Great and his immediate heirs 
(57 B.C. to 843 a.d.); (2) the period of feudalism; (3) the 
rise of the communes (eleventh to fourteenth century); 
(4) the political centralization of th& dukes of Burgundy 
(fifteenth century); (5) the Spanish rule (sixteenth to 
seventeenth century); (6) the Austrian rule (eighteenth 
century); (7) the French regime (1792-1815); (8) the 
Dutch rule and the revolution of 1830; (9) the period 
of national independence. 

During all these periods of history the names " Bel- 
gium" and " Belgians" have not been uniformly those by 
which the country and its people have been designated. 
The name "Belgae," of Celtic origin, was given in Caesar's 
time to the confederation of Celtic tribes which occupied 
the territory of Belgium, when for the first time the Roman 
legions came in contact with them. The name Belgium, 



6 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

"Belgica," disappeared with the Roman occupation and 
does not reappear until the sixteenth century. During 
the sixteenth century, and especially at the beginning of 
the seventeenth, the name " Belgium' ' is to be found in 
books, but seems not to have been used as a common 
designation. As a distinctive name for a race or people, 
the term "Beiges" became generally used at the end of 
the eighteenth century, its adjectival form being then 
"belgique" (les provinces belgiques, "the Belgian prov- 
inces"). Between the end of the Roman occupation and 
the end of the eighteenth century the Belgians were suc- 
cessively known as "Franks," "Lotharingi," and "Flem- 
ings." Since the thirteenth century, the country itself 
has been called "Netherlands" (partes advallenses), when 
the name Lotharingia disappeared as a political term. 
The term "Burgundian provinces" was sometimes used in 
the fifteenth century, while the name "Flanders," "Fian- 
dra," "Flandes," was mainly applied during the Spanish 
rule. During the Austrian rule, the name "Austrian 
Netherlands" was the prevailing designation. 1 The term 
"Netherlands" was applied, not only to the actual terri- 
tory of Belgium, but to the countries which today 
correspond to the territories included in the kingdoms of 
Belgium and Holland. From the time of the Roman occu- 
pation until 1588 Belgium and Holland have, indeed, a 
somewhat common history. Since 1588, when the prov- 
inces of the north separated from the south as the United 
Provinces of the Netherlands, Belgium and Holland have 
existed as separate states, and have no longer a common 
history. 

We shall not attempt to deal here with the history of 
the northern provinces from the early Middle Ages down 

1 See G. Kurth, Notre nom national. 



INTRODUCTION 7 

to 1588, for that is the task of the historian of Holland, 
and although, politically speaking, the provinces of Bel- 
gium and Holland both shared the same vicissitudes until 
1588, yet, as has been pointed out by Professor Colen- 
brander, 1 from the point of view of artistic, literary, and 
economic life, the national culture of the two was quite 
distinct. 

On the other hand, included in this history is that of 
the principality of Liege. Liege was never a part of the 
Netherlands; until 1795 it was an ecclesiastical state with 
a separate entity, ruled by bishops, princes of the Holy 
Roman Empire. But Liege had a civilization, and espe- 
cially institutions, common to those of the other Belgian 
provinces, and, geographically and historically speaking, 
it was really a part of Belgium. 

Having thus indicated what is to be dealt with in this 
Short History of Belgium, it remains only to mention the 
bibliographical list appended at the close of the work, 
which includes the most important books on general 
Belgian history. A reference to these will facilitate a 
deeper study of the subject and will enable the student 
to enter more in detail into the history of the country. 2 

Leon Van der Essen 

1 H. Colenbrander, De Belgische Omwenteling. 

2 1 am much indebted for the drawing of the maps in the book to Mr. 
Isidore Versluys, librarian of the Historical Seminary in the University 
of Louvain. 



CHAPTER I 
THE PERIOD OF FORMATION 

When, in 57 B.C., the Roman Republic, then in control 
of most of the Mediterranean countries, the south of Gaul 
included, determined to conquer also the rest of that 
country, Belgium was occupied by a people of Celtic ori- 
gin, called the Belgians, "Belgae." They were a part of 
the larger group of the Gauls who possessed the country 
between the Pyrennees, the Alps, the Rhine, and the sea. 
The Belgians occupied, not only the actual territory of 
Belgium, but also a part of Northern France and of Rhen- 
ish Prussia. They formed a confederation of several 
tribes, among which the Nervians, dwelling in the prov- 
inces of Hainaut, Brabant, and Flanders, were the most 
important. 

The Roman general, Julius Caesar, intrusted with the 
task of subduing the north of Gaul, attacked the Belgians 
in 57 B.C. The Roman army would have been routed by 
the Nervians in the first attack but for Caesar, who him- 
self led the troops and saved the day. Notwithstanding 
a fierce guerrilla warfare that lasted four years, all the 
Belgian tribes were successively subdued and some of 
them exterminated. Their heroic resistance made Caesar 
say of them: " Among all the Gauls, the bravest are the 
Belgians." 

Once subdued, Belgium accepted the Roman rule and 
remained loyal to the Empire. Civilization was rapidly 
introduced; great military roads were constructed through 

8 



THE PERIOD OF FORMATION 9 

the Belgian forests and marshes, connecting the different 
towns, and along their course villages were built and 
farms developed. Tongres and Tournai became entirely 
Romanized cities, where splendid monuments were built; 
remains of these are still to be found today. Farms 
were laid out and country houses were erected according 
to Roman pattern, with such changes as were imposed by 
the rigors of the northern climate. The Belgians adopted 
Roman manners and customs and the Latin language: 
they became Gallo-Romans, and even the national gods 
were renamed with Roman names. 

If Belgium shared the splendor and the civilization of 
the Roman Empire, it shared also the disastrous days of 
its decline. There came a time when the Empire, once 
so strong, but now growing weaker and weaker, was quite 
unable to resist the hordes of barbarians, which, coming 
from the dark forests of Germany, threatened the rich 
provinces of Gaul, and Italy itself, with invasion. From 
the third century on, Franks and Alamans devastated Gaul 
and left the wealthy territories covered with ruins. The 

j emperors did not succeed in expelling the Franks from the 

i country: those tribes of Teutonic race were allowed to 
remain in the northern parts of Belgium, Flanders and 

jCampine, 1 and became soldiers of the Empire. They 
early became dissatisfied with the territory allotted to 

J them and resumed their march southward, conquering the 
whole of Belgium. The year 406 witnessed a terrible 
catastrophe. The Teutons, driven out of their country 
by the invasion of the Huns, burst like a hurricane upon 

« A wide expanse of sandy soil extends from east to west almost unin- 
terruptedly across Belgium; the eastern section of this, covering the north- 

] clZU 0It O^% 0l n he Tr P T inCe l° l AntWOTP and Llmbur *. is called «K> 
oampme. Cf. R. C. K. Elisor, Belgium, p. 24. 



10 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

the unfortunate provinces of Belgium, burned and devas- 
tated everything on their march, destroyed Tongres and 
Tournai, and finally, swarming over the Alps and the 
Pyrennees, invaded both Italy and Spain. After their 
passage, Belgium was left undefended by the Roman 
legions, recalled to defend Italy itself, and the Franks of 
Flanders and Campine occupied the abandoned territory 
without difficulty. 

The conquest by the Franks is an important event in 
Belgian history. Indeed, it is from the fifth century that 
the bilingualism and the ethnographical dualism of Bel- 
gium may be said to date. The Franks, composed of 
two tribes, the Salians and the Ripuarians, advanced 
from the north and the east into Belgium and occupied 
the country in such a way that the actual provinces of 
Flanders, Antwerp, Limburg, the larger part of Brabant, 
and Liege fell into their power. Farther south they did 
not enter Belgium: their march was stopped by a dense 
and extended forest which, in Southwestern and Central 
Belgium, constituted the continuation of the forests of the 
Ardennes. The forest in question was called Sylva Car- 
bonaria, "Coal Wood/ 7 and covered the largest part of the 
actual province of Hainaut, the seat of the modern Belgian 
coal industry. Behind the curtain of that forest the old- 
est inhabitants of the country, the Gallo-Romans, re- 
mained free from oppression by the invaders and retained 
their Latin culture and civilization. So Belgium was 
separated by the Sylva Carbonaria into two quite distinct 
parts: the northern part, occupied by the Franks, with 
their Teutonic culture and civilization; the southern part, 
occupied by the Gallo-Romans. A line was thus drawn 
dividing the Belgian people, and an ethnical and linguistic 



THE PERIOD OF FORMATION 11 

duality, destined to remain for centuries one of the main 
characteristics of the country, was established. Indeed, 
the Walloons 1 of today are the descendants of the old 
Gallo-Romans from behind the limits of the Sylva 
Carbonaria, and the Flemings of Northern Belgium are 
the descendants of the Franks. This line drawn in the 
fifth century has undergone little change in the course 
of ages and, although the famous coal wood disappeared 
many centuries ago, the separation between Walloons and 
Flemings has remained more or less apparent down to the 
present. In this case the Sylva Carbonaria played a 
part like that of the Alps in the case of the Romanches 
and the Italians of the Tessino, and that of the hills 
of Wales and Cornwall in the case of the Britons of 
England. 

The first king of the Franks known in history is Clodion, 
who conquered the countries of Tournai and Cambrai and 
established the seat of his realm in Tournai. It is in this 
town that his grave was discovered in 1653; the King was 
found buried, according to the customs of his people, to- 
gether with his arms and royal ornaments; he was identi- 
fied by the presence of a ring on which his likeness and his 
J name were engraved. 

1 It was from Tournai that the famous descendant of 

. Clodion, King Clodovech, started his campaign of further 

(conquest that gave him possession of Northern France 

and, after the war against the Burgundians and the West- 

goths (506), the control of nearly the whole of their 

1 The term "Walloon" comes from Wala, "foreigner," the name that 
; was given by the Teutonic invaders to the Gallo-Romans dwelling behind 
the Sylva Carbonaria. The name Wala is to be connected with the terms 
!" Welsh," "Wales," apparently of the same origin and given to the Britons 
•and their country by the Anglo-Saxon invaders. 



12 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

country. From this time on, the Frankish kings estab- 
lished their capital at Paris. Belgium is no longer asso- 
ciated with the recollection of their glorious deeds. 

Clodion and his successors, so far as we know by the 
genera] history of Europe, belonged to the so-called 
dynasty of the Merovingians. The kings of that dynasty, 
in the course of the seventh century, were weaklings, 
actually dominated by their powerful ministers, the 
mayors of the palace. One of these, Peppin, in 751, 
succeeded in becoming himself a king and was the 
founder of a new royal dynasty, the Carolingians. 

The new dynasty was, geographically speaking, essen- 
tially a Belgian dynasty, for it had many possessions in 
Eastern Belgium and all its members had occupied influ- 
ential offices at the court of the Austrasian kings, who, 
in the sixth and seventh centuries, ruled over that part 
of the country. 

The most famous of the Carolingians is Charles the 
Great, who re-established the old Roman Empire (800) 
and who, by successful campaigns, succeeded in extending 
his domination over the territory lying between the river 
Elbe, the Bohemian mountains, and the Raab on the 
east, the sea on the west, the North Sea, and the 
Garigliano River in Italy and the Ebro River in Spain on 
the south. 

The favorite residence of the great Emperor was at Aix, 
and this contributed largely to the development of Belgian 
trade and industry at the beginning of the ninth century. 
Politically abandoned by the Frankish kings when they 
moved to Paris, Belgium again became important in the 
time of Charles the Great as the most favorably located 
portion of the Frankish Empire. 






THE PERIOD OF FORMATION 13 

Belgium is, indeed, for trade purposes, the natural 
meeting-ground of the West-European nations. Lying 
between England, France, Germany, and Holland, it has 
good water communications with each. Though not 
quite so near the English coast as a corner of France is, it 
has the great advantage of exactly fronting the mouth of 
the Thames. With France it is connected by the upper 
courses of the Lys, the Scheldt, the Sambre, and the 
Meuse, the last named being navigable by deep-draught 
vessels far into Lorraine. With Germany its connection 
is less direct, the outlet of the Rhine running of course 
through Holland. 1 

These geographical conditions played a large part in 
the development of Belgian trade in the time of Charles 
the Great. The presence of the imperial palace at Aix 

I attracted a great deal of traffic: from every part of the 
empire merchants, soldiers r priests, in short all classes of 
people, came through Belgium in order to reach the resi- 
dence of the Emperor, and their presence resulted in 
unparalleled prosperity in that part of the Carolingian 
empire. Charles the Great was not only a great soldier 
and legislator, but also a good Christian. During his 
reign the development of religious life in the different parts 

i of the empire grew rapidly. 

Something ought to be said concerning the introduction 

i of the Christian religion into Belgium. The preaching 
of the gospel in Belgium goes back as far as the Roman 
occupation of the time of the Empire, but the religious 
organization of the church in the country dates from 
the middle of the fourth century. At that time we find 
in the city of Tongres the oldest historically known 

i R. C. K. Ensor, Belgium, pp. 37-38. 



14 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

bishop of Belgium, St. Servatius. The historical origin of 
the bishoprics of Arras, Tournai, Boulogne, Cambrai — 
all of them at that time in Belgian territory — remains a 
matter of conjecture. The baptism of King Clodovech in 
496 made the development of the Christian religion easier, 
although the conversion of the King to the Catholic faith 
did not at all mean the conversion of the whole people. 
Large parts of Belgium, especially the eastern part, 
remained heathen until the eighth century, and the intro- 
duction of the Christian religion in these sections of the 
country is mainly the work of missionaries. These 
missionaries worked on their own initiative, without any 
such prearranged plan as, for instance, existed for the 
introduction of Catholicism into England. It was mainly 
by Irish and Anglo-Saxon missionaries that the gospel 
was made known, and the most famous of those heralds 
of the Catholic religion was the Anglo-Saxon missionary 
Willibrord. The work of the missionaries was completed 
by the bishops, who visited large portions of their very 
extensive dioceses. Bishops Eligius, Amandus, Lambert, 
and Hubert are closely connected with the religious 
history of Belgium in the seventh and eighth centuries. 
The boundaries of the dioceses corresponded exactly with 
the limits of the old administrative circles of the Roman 
Empire, the provinces. In the eighth century, Belgium 
was divided into the dioceses of Noyon-Tournai, 
Terouanne (later Saint-Omer), Arras, Cambrai, Liege, and 
Utrecht. The dioceses of Utrecht and Liege were subject 
to the metropolitan church of Cologne, the others to the 
metropolitan church of Rheims. 

These dioceses had been established without taking into 
account the racial differences existing between the inhabit- 



THE PERIOD OF FORMATION 15 

ants of the ecclesiastical territory. Including in the same 
diocese Gallo-Romans and Franks, the church, uncon- 
sciously of course, prepared the inhabitants of Belgium 
for the task of being intermediaries between the Latin 
and the Teutonic civilization. The seats of the bishoprics 
being mostly located in the Romance section of the 
country, the inhabitants of the Teutonic section were 
obliged to meet the Walloons : they had the same religious 
center. As a result of this action of the church, the 
national or racial differences were diminished and the 
linguistic frontier no more operated as a barrier in any 
real sense between the people it separated. 

If the conversion to the Catholic faith was mainly the 
task of the missionaries, the introduction of civilization 
was mainly the task of the monasteries. Here the Bene- 
dictine monks played a very large part, both as civilizers 
and as colonizers. Their monasteries were, from the 
sixth century on, centers of economic and intellectual life. 
While some of their monks attacked the thick forests of 
Southern and Central Belgium with axes, others engaged 
in literary labors in the monasteries' libraries, transcribing 
the ancient Greek and Latin manuscripts, composing 
hymns and Lives of Saints, and opening schools for the 
education of the people. They planted in the very hearts 
of the people the roots of that strong religious spirit, which 
has steadily developed, and which has become one of the 
characteristics of the national spirit of Belgium. 

Each monastery became a kind of model farm, where 
the population of the neighborhood could learn the best 
agricultural methods. In the monastery, too, they could 
jfind physicians who knew how to take care of the sick. 
The monastery, being protected by the respect that was 



16 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

inspired by the saint to whom it was dedicated, was also 
a place of safety in time of danger. Consequently, 
dwellings became more and more numerous around the 
monasteries, and villages developed under their influence 
and protection. 

It is not, then, surprising that in the course of time 
tales and legends developed wherein the founders of those 
monasteries became the heroes of poetical and sometimes 
extraordinary adventures. In this manner did the people 
of mediaeval times express their gratitude for all they 
owed to those early pioneers of culture and civilization. 



CHAPTER II 
THE PERIOD OF FEUDALISM 

Charles the Great died in 814. His son, Emperor 
Louis, was a weakling, and after his death the mighty 
empire of Charles was destroyed by internal troubles and 
civil war (840) . Lotharius, the youngest son of Emperor 
Louis, endeavored to seize the empire for himself. To pre- 
vent this, both his brothers, Louis and Charles, leagued 
themselves against him and defeated him in the terrible 
battle of Fontanet, which has been characterized by con- 
temporaries as a " judgment of God." The peace that was 
later concluded between the three brothers led to the 
famous Treaty of Verdun (843), an event of the utmost 
importance in the history of Belgium. 

The empire created by Charles the Great was divided 
into three parts: the central part, including the largest 
portion of Belgium, Holland, Italy, and the eastern part 
of France, was allotted to Lotharius, together with the title 
of Emperor; the western part of the empire, embracing 
the largest part of France, and Flanders to the west of the 
Scheldt, became the share of Charles; the eastern part, 
which included nearly the whole of Germany and 
certain parts of Austria-Hungary, was given to Louis. 
The Treaty of Verdun practically cut the territory of Bel- 
gium into two parts, separated by the Scheldt, and gave 
each of them to & different ruler. These two sections of 
Belgium remained separated during the Middle Ages, 
and were not reunited until six centuries later. 

17 



18 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

After the death of Emperor Lotharius (855) the north- 
ern part of his central territory, located between the North 
Sea and the Jura Mountains, was given to one of his sons, 
Lotharius II. That section which included the entire 
eastern part of Belgium to the Scheldt embraced peoples of 
very different race and origin: Frisians, Franks, Alamans, 
Walloons. As it was impossible to name the territory 
after its inhabitants — they were of too many different 
origins — it was named after its sovereign : regnum Lotharii, 
"Lotharingia," "the realm of Lotharius." 

In 870 the Treaty of Meerssen, whereby Charles, King 
of France, and Louis, King of Germany, divided between 
them the realm of Lotharius II, ended the existence of that 
state. The second Treaty of Verdun in 879 finally settled 
the status of Lotharingia: the boundary between France 
and Germany was declared to be the river Scheldt, and the 
whole of Lotharingia was incorporated in Germany. Of 
course, all the parts of the former empire of Charles the 
Great were once again united by the Emperor Charles the 
Stout, but after all kinds of internal struggles, Lotharingia 
was again — and this time for many centuries — annexed to 
Germany in 925. 

Belgium is thus divided into two tracts by the Scheldt: 
the western part, Flanders, belonging to France and po- 
litically influenced by that country; the eastern part, 
Lotharingia, which was a dependency of Germany. As in 
the establishment of the bishoprics, so here, no attention 
was paid to the racial differences of the inhabitants. 
Both Lotharingia and Flanders included peoples of 
different origin: Flanders had inhabitants of Teutonic 
origin in the north and inhabitants of Romance origin 
in the south; Lotharingia included Flemings in the 



THE PERIOD OF FEUDALISM 19 

east, the center, and the north, and Walloons in the 
south. 

Thus, at the beginning of the feudal system, there 
existed no political and no linguistic unity in Belgium. 
Moreover, although Flanders formed a politically united 
body, Lotharingia was subdivided into several small prin- 
cipalities: the duchy of Brabant, including the actual 
provinces of Brabant and Antwerp, the county of Limburg, 
the county of Namur, the duchy of Luxemburg, the 
county of Hainaut, and two ecclesiastical principalities, 
Cambrai and Liege. 

The absence of political unity was a consequence of the 
new political constitution of most of the countries of West- 
ern Europe in the tenth century — of feudalism, so called. 
In place of the former despotic and centralized power of the 
King there was now to be found the locally asserted rule of 
dukes, counts, viscounts, etc. These public officers who, 
in the ninth century, were still subordinate agents of the 
King, without any other power than that delegated to 
them by their master, had succeeded, partly through the 
weakness of the heirs of Charles the Great and partly on 
account of the invasions of the Normans in the ninth 
century and the incursion of the Hungarians in the tenth, in 
grasping more firmly their delegated powers and in making 
their military , political, and financial perquisites hereditary. 
Thanks to the custom whereby the King granted them a 
domain, called beneficium, as a reward for their services 
or to insure their loyalty, they had succeeded in getting 
a strong political foothold in their respective provinces, 
and had continuously developed their possessions and their 
influence. In the tenth century the dukes and counts, 
formerly officers of the King, had won for themselves an 



20 A SHOUT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

independent and hereditary position. The kingdom was 
now everywhere broken up into small principalities, prac- 
tically autonomous, where the King no longer exercised 
his power and where the people were now dominated by 
local dynasties. The new political organization, called 
feudalism, existed, of course, in Belgium also, and 
contributed in a large measure to the complete 
absence of political and national unity throughout the 
country. 

Each county, each duchy, became a world apart, had 
its own politics and made war on the neighboring princi- 
pality, or aided it in case of attack from others. So 
Flanders enjoyed friendly relations with Cambrai and 
Hainaut; Hainaut was on good terms with Namur and 
Luxemburg. Sometimes they fought one another : Brabant 
and Limburg were enemies for a long time. Later they 
became united under the same princes. The same phenom- 
enon existed in the Northern Netherlands: Holland was 
friendly toward Cleves, but fought against Gueldre on 
account of Utrecht, against Flanders on account of 
Zealand, against Utrecht on account of Friesland, etc. 

For the most part, Flanders or the western part of 
Belgium was a vassal of the French King; Lotharingia or 
the eastern part of Belgium was a vassal of the German 
Empire. The dependency of Lotharingia, however, was 
less definite than was that of Flanders to France, for the 
numerous principalities into which the former was broken 
up introduced more autonomy for the local dynasties and 
rendered intervention on the part of the Emperor more 
difficult. Flanders, on the other hand, as a more homo- 
geneous territory, was more closely united with its feudal 
lord. 



THE PERIOD OF FEUDALISM 21 

The ultimate fate of Flanders and Lotharingia de- 
pended, however, on the degree of independence that their 
princes would be able to win. In accordance with the 
general politics of all vassals, the counts of Flanders and 
the dukes of Lotharingia dreamed of but one thing, 
namely, of escape from the domination of their feudal 
lord. The result was that, after some centuries, both parts 
of Belgium were brought more and more closely together, 
and from this resulted that much-needed political unity, 
the only hope of a real independent Belgium. 

The political history of the country in feudal times 
(the tenth to the twelfth century) must now be examined. 
Annexed to the German Empire, Lotharingia became 
from 925 a sort of German province, especially during the 
reign of Emperor Otto I (962), a man of powerful person- 
ality. Otto clearly realized that no layman at the head 
of Lotharingia would be loyal enough to submit entirely 
to his own politics and he therefore appealed to the devo- 
tion and faithfulness of the bishops. These were to be the 
agents of the German influence and domination. In 953 
Otto appointed his own brother, Bruno, as Duke of 
Lotharingia and obtained for him at the same time the 
archbishopric of Cologne. Having thus acquired control 

| of both the political and ecclesiastical power, Bruno be- 
came the intermediary by whom not only the duchy but 

, also the Lotharingian church was to be more and more 

' Germanized. 

However, the domination of the imperial German 
church did not succeed in breaking entirely the resistance 

. of the local Lotharingian princes. Those princes had no 
affection for the Emperor of Germany; they could not 

1 forget their old national dynasty, the Carolingians, who 



22 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

belonged to the country and were not foreigners, as were 
the German emperors. The people of Lotharingia sup- 
ported those local dynasties which claimed descent from 
the old Carolingian national stock; the castles of the local 
counts of Hainaut, Louvain, and Limburg became centers 
of political influence, whose object was to check the domi- 
nation of the feudal German lord. Since the tenth cen- 
tury the local houses of Hainaut and Louvain, of Namur 
and Luxemburg, had attempted to organize their political 
power. In the last quarter of the eleventh century, the 
Germanization of Lotharingia broke down as a result of 
the so-called " Struggle for the Investitures/' whereby the 
power of the Emperor over the church in Germany was 
destroyed. The bishops of the Empire, having to choose 
between loyalty to their feudal lord and obedience to the 
pope, were no longer political servants of the Emperor. 
The downfall of the imperial church meant the end of its 
influence in Lotharingia. The local princes threw off the 
feudal yoke and practically divided the whole of Lotha- 
ringia among themselves. And thus was witnessed the 
end of that large imperial province that for so long had 
covered the western frontier of Germany between the 
Rhine and the Scheldt. We hear no more of Lotharingia: 
another name appears in Belgian history, namely, Bra- 
bant. It was the Duke of Brabant, of the local house of 
Louvain, who, from this time on, gradually extended his 
political influence over the former Lotharingia, in that 
part of Belgium lying east of the Scheldt. 

The German Emperor was now no more the lord of the 
Lotharingian princes: he was henceforth regarded as an 
ally or as an enemy, according to the circumstances. The 
Lotharingian principalities no longer played a part in 



THE PERIOD OF FEUDALISM 23 

events occurring on the other side of the Rhine; they no 
longer sent soldiers to the feudal imperial army; they 
followed the emperors no more in their expeditions against 
Italy; and, in the Lotharingian literature, there is to be 
found hardly a suggestion of a recollection of the existence 
of the German Emperor. 

From the middle of the twelfth century on, the national 
life of the eastern part of Belgium displayed more and 
more cohesion and individuality; little by little it broke 
down the geographical barrier of the Scheldt that the 
Treaty of Verdun had erected between Lotharingia and 
Flanders. 

Meanwhile the western part of Belgium, the county of 
Flanders, had developed also in its own way. Assigned by 
the Treaty of Verdun to the kingdom of France, Flanders 
did not seek a separation from a country to which it was 
geographically attached and on whose territory were to be 
found the seats of its bishoprics and most of its monas- 
teries. The political power of the house of Flanders dates 
from the time of Count Baldwin I, called Baldwin of the 
Iron Arm (879), an adventurous ruler, who violently took 
the daughter of the King of France, his lord, and made her 
his wife, notwithstanding the vehement protest of her 
royal father. That marriage brought to the count the 
rich possessions of his wife and furnished to his heirs an 
excellent pretext for meddling in the politics of France. 
] The kings of France at the time of the first counts of 
Flanders were weaklings; moreover, the bishops of Noyon- 
Tournai, Arras, and Terouanne were not as loyal to their 
lord as those of Lotharingia were to the Emperor. The 
political conditions were thus quite different in Flanders, 
and at a time when the iron policy of Otto I and his heirs 



I 



24 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

subdued the Lotharingian princes, the counts of Flanders 
succeeded in developing their independence and political 
influence without much opposition. Baldwin II (910) 
enlarged his domain by conquering the wealthy regions of 
Walloon-Flanders 1 and Artois and formed an alliance with 
England by marrying an Anglo-Saxon princess. Count 
Arnulf (918) took the title of marquess and tried — though 
vainly — to overpower the Duke of Normandy, who 
checked his advance in the south and with it the extension 
of Flemish conquest beyond the river Ccinche. Effect- 
ively blocked in their efforts to extend their power in the 
south, the Flemish counts next turned their attention to 
the north and the east. Successively the islands of Zee- 
land, the "Four Metiers," and the county of Alost were 
subjugated, although already under the feudal authority 
of the German Empire. The result was that the Count of 
Flanders became at once a vassal of the King of France 
and of the German Emperor. 

By the conquest of the county of Alost, Count Bald- 
win V was enabled to cross the Scheldt and to advance into 
Lotharingian territory. The marriage of his son with a 
princess of Hainaut resulted in uniting both Flanders and 
Hainaut under the same dynasty. Here again the barrier 
erected by the Treaty of Verdun was broken down/ and for 
the first time political ties were established on both sides 
of the Scheldt, between the two parts of Belgium. 

Coincident with the first signs of a tendency to union 
between Eastern and Western Belgium, Flanders began to 
come into closer contact with foreign countries and powers. 
As the son of Baldwin V had married the daughter of 

1 By Walloon-Flanders is to be understood the southern part of the 
county, including the cities of Lille, Douai, and Bethune. 



THE PERIOD OF FEUDALISM 25 

William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, many Flem- 
ish troops took part in the conquest of England by the 
Normans (1066), and these remained in the British Isles 
for purposes of colonization. Diplomatic and commercial 
relations between Flanders and England were the happy 
result. Under Count Robert (1070), Flanders came into 
contact with Denmark and with the court of Rome; a 
pilgrimage to Jerusalem undertaken by Robert brought 
him into touch with the Emperor of Constantinople, and 
the Count of Flanders happened to be the first prince of 
Europe to consider a crusade against the Turks. 

In the twelfth century, however, the political expansion 
of Flanders came to a standstill. To the weaklings of the 
former period in France there had now succeeded kings of 
stronger character, whose policy led them to subdue their 
restless vassals and to centralize their own power. They 
sought, therefore, to check the expansion of Flanders and 
to dominate the powerful county, attaching it more closely 
to the French domain. The road to the south was thus 
no longer open for eventual conquest; the road to the 
east also was barred by the Lotharingian princes. The 
influence of the German Empire had practically dis- 
appeared in Lotharingia. Brabant and Hainaut now 
became the centers of a strong political life. It is a 
curious phenomenon of history that, when Flanders was 
threatened by the growing strength of France, Lotharin- 
gia became practically independent of the influence of the 
German Empire. 

There was, therefore, as has been seen, no political unity 
in Belgium during the feudal period: east and west each 
developed in its own way and political conditions in each 
section were very strongly influenced by their powerful 



26 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

neighbors. There did exist, however, a common tendency 
toward autonomy and freedom, Flanders trying to escape 
from the influence of France and, to some extent, that of 
England; 1 Lotharingia struggling against the hegemony 
of Germany. That tendency, it must be admitted, is not 
a purely characteristic Belgian movement. At this period 
the feudalists were everywhere to be found fighting against 
the supremacy of the King and trying to win complete 
political independence for themselves. 

The one essentially Belgian factor in the diverging exist- 
ence of the east and the west, and which exerted a strong 
influence in favor of unification, was the common social, 
economic, and religious life. 

A study of religious conditions in Belgium during the 
tenth and eleventh centuries reveals, even more clearly 
than a study of political events, the part played by both 
Germany and France in imposing their respective prac- 
tices, and the ability of Belgium to incorporate and to 
modify the best elements of Teutonic and Latin civilization. 

After the Norman invasions of the ninth century, which 
left Belgium covered with ruins and with many churches 
and monasteries burned, or abandoned by their terrified 
occupants, the ecclesiastical discipline suffered severely. 
The old prescriptions of the Benedictine rule were no 
longer observed and most of the monasteries became 
dependents of powerful laymen. 

In the tenth century a revival of the discipline followed, 
thanks to the efforts of St. Gerard of Brogne, founder of 

i During the reign of Count Robert (1093), William the Conqueror, 
then King of England, adopted a hostile attitude toward Flanders. As a 
result Robert gave his daughter in marriage to the King of Denmark and, 
in agreement with him, planned an invasion of England. The hostile 
attitude of the English kings of the Norman dynasty turned the counts of 
Flanders to seek again the protection of France. 



THE PERIOD OF FEUDALISM 27 

the little monastery of Brogne, near Namur (923). 
Gerard excited so much enthusiasm by the sanctity of his 
life and the rigor of his discipline that princes and bishops 
united in asking him to restore the practice of ascetic life 
both in Lotharingia and in Flanders. The number of the 
monasteries to the north of the linguistic barrier, especially 
in Flanders, soon increased, whereas before they were 
mainly to be found in Southern Belgium. Belgium be- 
came a country of monasteries in the eleventh century, 
and ever since that time the people have shown that deep 
religious spirit that is one of the distinctive traits 
of the national character. The monks exerted a very 
strong influence on the minds of the rough feudalists, who 
thought mainly of war and robbery: one of the most 
powerful dukes of Lotharingia, Godefrid the Bearded, 
desired to be buried in the dress of a monk. The robber- 
knights, pursuing an enemy or a convoy of merchants, 
thought only of plunder; once in sight of the walls of a 
monastery, however, they would cease their pursuit and 
turn back. Carrying through the country the relics of 
their saints, the monks would often succeed in stopping 
private wars and murder. An example of the religious 
spirit is the great "procession" of Tournai, that attracted 
every year thousands of pilgrims and visitors, Flemish 
and Walloon together, and that acted as a unifying factor 
for both races of Belgium. 

The Reform of Cluny found the French and German 
influence in serious conflict. The reform in question, by 
which it was hoped to reintroduce a very severe discipline 
in the monastic world, originated in Lorraine (1004) and 
soon spread through the northern countries, especially in 
Flanders and Lotharingia. The monks of Cluny resolutely 



28 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

resented any interference of the temporal power in reli- 
gious affairs. As a result they found themselves prac- 
tically opposed to the system of the imperial and feudal 
church of Germany, dominated by the Emperor. The 
destruction of that system thus meant indirectly the 
destruction of German influence in Lotharingia. When 
the Struggle for the Investitures broke out, the Lotharin- 
gian bishops hesitated at first, but after a while nearly all 
of them took sides with the papal cause against the 
Emperor. Both in matters of politics and religion 
Lotharingia tended more and more to break away from 
Germany. 

Hitherto only one monastic order had influenced reli- 
gious life in Belgium, namely, the Benedictines. In the 
twelfth century other orders were born — the Cistercians 
and the Norbertins or Premontres. The Cistercians, 
founded by St. Bernard in France, played the part, mainly, 
of clearers of wild land and of colonizers; they introduced 
new economic and agricultural methods and exerted a 
deep influence in economic life. The Premontres were 
canons, rather than monks, who passed their time in study 
and in administering the parishes. But they, too, did 
much for the colonization of the country, and they trans- 
formed into fruit-bearing land the barren soil of the 
Antwerp Campine. 

The number of parishes increased in the course of the 
tenth and eleventh centuries. New chapels were founded 
in cases where the nearest parish church was too far 
removed, or where a number of people sufficient for the 
formation of a new parish were to be found dwelling close 
together. Sometimes the establishment of a new parish 
was ordered at the instance of a wealthy landlord, and a 














mm 




o 

H 
O 






D 



THE PERIOD OF FEUDALISM 29 

chapel constructed on the domain of his manor, in order 
to gratify his desire for better opportunities for attending 
church. Each chapel was ordinarily granted the right to 
have its own parish priest, to whom was granted permis- 
sion to baptize infants and bury the dead in the parish 
cemetery. 

As for the economic organization, in ante-feudal times 
there existed an important difference between the country 
south and that lying north of a line drawn through 
Boulogne, Saint-Omer, Douai, Mons, and Maestricht. 
North of this line we find the system of isolated farms; 
south of the line the system of villages. But during the 
tenth century the landlords extended their possessions in 
farm lands as well as in the villages, and the same eco- 
nomic organization, directed by the same principles, pre- 
vailed throughout the country. Each domain was 
divided into two parts: a central part, including the 
manor of the landlord and that portion of the land ex- 
ploited by himself by means of unfree "serfs" or agricul- 
tural laborers ; and another part, surrounding the central 
domain, divided into small lots, given to free farmers. 

The domain of the ecclesiastical landlords, bishops or 
abbots, was exceedingly well administered and the condi- 
tions of life of the people depending upon these landlords 
were very favorable; the ecclesiastical "serfs" frequently 
asserted that they preferred their servitude to freedom, 
as less burdensome than freedom itself. The ecclesiastical 
"serfs" were grouped in families, familiae, within whose 
limits justice was administered by the mayor of the com- 
munity in the name of the abbot. 

The lay landlords, on the other hand, were bad admin- 
istrators. Dealing only with politics and war, they 



30 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

ignored agricultural problems; they did not come into 
contact with their laborers, and they left with their officers, 
ministeriales, the care of ruling and judging their servants. 
They preferred attendance at " tournaments/ ' which 
might be regarded as a sort of military training and as a 
means of learning the profession of bearer of arms. They 
undertook long and distant journeys in order to fight 
the knights of Vermandois, Champagne, and Picardy in 
France. And as a result both Walloons and Flemings 
came in contact with their French brethren in arms. 

The upper landlords, the dukes and counts, gave much 
attention, however, to the colonization and the economic 
improvement of the country. Northern and Western 
Flanders and Northern Brabant were covered with sandy 
soil and marshes, and thick woods were to be found in 
some parts as late as the end of the eleventh century. In 
the early part of that century, the counts of Flanders 
began to engage the unemployed for agricultural pur- 
poses. They turned the unproductive parts of the coun- 
try into fertile meadows, suitable for pasturing cattle. 
Canals and dykes were constructed in order to increase the 
productivity of the soil. In the course of the twelfth cen- 
tury a sturdy populace of land laborers was attracted into 
Germany by the landlords of the countries of Bremen, 
Holstein, Thuringia, and Silesia. It was the Flemings 
and the people of Brabant who colonized the right bank 
of the river Elbe and who turned the marshes of Eastern 
Germany into fertile soil. Many villages still remind us 
today of those Flemings, and are still known as Flaming- 
dorfer. 

On the Flemish seacoast the people were engaged in 
raising cattle, especially sheep and cows; another large 



THE PERIOD OF FEUDALISM 31 

element was employed in herring and cod fishing in 
the North Sea. These people were mostly of Frisian or 
Saxon origin; they were not descendants of the Franks. 
They spoke another language; they had other customs and 
laws; they were socially free men. When the French 
influence increased in Flanders, they alone retained their 
Germanic characteristics, and it was among them, in the 
fourteenth century, that were found the fiercest opponents 
of France. 

As affecting the artistic life of Belgium in the tenth and 
eleventh centuries, we find the same influences at work 
which have been mentioned as operative in political and 
religious spheres. The Romance and Germanic ideas were 
absorbed, mixed, and transformed by the Belgian artists 
of that time. 

Lotharingia, the eastern part of Belgium, possessed, of 
course, no cathedrals comparable with those of Worms, 
Speyer, and Mainz. However, the literary movement 
developed by the Lotharingian bishops was accompanied 
by an artistic revival. As most of the Lotharingian 
bishops were of German descent, the direction of the work 
was intrusted to German architects. The oldest examples 
of romantic architecture in the regions of the Meuse reveal 
German influence. Not only the architects, but also the 
sculptors, the painters, etc., were Germans, though some- 
times recourse was had to Italian artists, who came 
over the Alps to seek their fortunes. The frescoes on the 
walls of St. James's Church at Liege are the work of a 
painter called Giovanni. 

The Lotharingian artists soon began to imitate the 
German methods and to use material native to the coun- 
try. Supplies for walls and columns were no longer 



32 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

brought from Germany, but from the valley of the Meuse. 
Until the twelfth century, German traditions, however, 
prevailed in architecture, and at no time prior to the 
beginning of that period can there be said to have been 
any Lotharingian style. 

If the valley of the Meuse was the artistic center of 
Eastern Belgium, in the western part of the country — in 
Flanders — it was the city of Tournai which dominated 
artistic development. The cathedral of Tournai, the only 
large Romance basilica of Belgium, rivals the cathedrals of 
the Rhine in majesty and harmony of form. The plan 
reveals the work of an architect influenced by the German 
school. But in the architectural details are to be found 
motifs inspired by the large French cathedrals of Nor- 
mandy. The double German and French influence re- 
sulted in the founding of a local school of architecture 
at Tournai, which exhibited great activity throughout 
Flanders. Tournai, the religious capital of Flanders, be- 
came also the artistic capital. The stone of Tournai was 
famous. Thanks to the Scheldt, material was easily trans- 
ported, and in the locality where it was used it was, of 
course, architects of Tournai who drew the plans of the 
buildings. There existed also at Tournai a local school of 
sculptors, whose members were very active and who may 
be regarded as true artists. 

There remains only the literary life in both parts of 
Belgium during the feudal period to be considered. 

Dating from the ninth century, there were many to be 
found among the ecclesiastics and the upper classes who 
spoke both languages, Romance and Teutonic, equally well. 
In the monasteries Flemish and Walloon monks lived 
together, and in the Abbey of St. Amand, in Southern 



THE PERIOD OF FEUDALISM 33 

Belgium, there has been found, written by the same hand, 
the oldest poem of French literature, the Cantilene de Ste. 
Eulalie, and also one of the oldest products of Teutonic 
literature, the Ludwigslied. The bishops and abbots 
knew both languages; the abbots of Lobbes, a Walloon 
monastery in the tenth century, spoke both Flemish and 
French. In the diocese of Terouanne (later Saint-Omer) 
the bishops were obliged to know "barbarian," i.e., the 
Teutonic language. During the eleventh century, many 
preachers were able to address the people of the Walloon 
and Flemish sections, and abbots who knew both lan- 
guages were preferred. The lay princes were obliged at 
least to understand Walloon and Flemish, for Flanders, 
Brabant, and Limburg included people of both races. 
When the army of the crusaders started for the Holy Land, 
the Lotharingian prince Godfrid of Bouillon was appointed 
as their leader, because, according to the chronicle of Otto 
von Freising, "brought up on the frontier of the Romance 
and the Teutonic people, he knew both languages equally 
well." During the twelfth century, the knowledge of 
French was regarded as a necessary element of perfect 
culture. On the common people, however, French civili- 
zation had no influence at all; they knew and spoke only 
Flemish. 

The French influence was especially strong from a 
linguistic point of view; the German influence was over- 
whelming in the literary domain, especially in Lotha- 
ringia. The bishops were, generally speaking, the sole 
possessors of literary and scientific culture, and in Lotha- 
ringia most of them were strongly Germanized. The 
center of literary life in Lotharingia was the school of 
Liege, founded by the Saxon bishop Everachar. It became 



34 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

a center of study, where not only Germans, but also 
French, English, and Slav students were to be found. 
The curriculum of the school, known as the school of St. 
Lambert, included grammar, rhetoric, poetry, music, 
mathematics, and theology. This institution was the 
means by which many new ideas were circulated through 
France and Germany, as its teachers were in close touch 
with all the scientific tendencies of the time. In Western 
and Southern Belgium we find the influence of the school 
of Cambrai as paramount. Although a Romance region, 
Cambrai belonged to the German Empire, and was there- 
fore a center of German influence. The dominating genre 
in literature is history, and that is an especially Belgian 
genre; history has always been much cultivated in Bel- 
gium. The historical work of a monk, Sigebert of Gem- 
bloux, is recognized as the center of that activity. 

The Struggle for the Investitures, which destroyed the 
power and the influence of the German imperial and feudal 
church from a political and religious point of view, de- 
stroyed also its influence in literary life. The schools of 
Liege were abandoned and, from the first quarter of the 
twelfth century on, students turned their eyes toward 
Paris. 

In Flanders, literary influence, as was the case with 
artistic movements, was French rather than German. 
Tournai, the artistic capital, was also the intellectual 
center, and Tournai was a Romance bishopric. The 
school of St. Mary had only French teachers and con- 
tributed in spreading a knowledge of the French language 
among the Flemish clergy. Essentially theological and 
dialectical, however, the teaching of St. Mary was less 
important than the teaching of St. Lambert of Liege. 



THE PERIOD OF FEUDALISM 35 

Thus, during the tenth and eleventh centuries, the 
civilization of Belgium was influenced by the culture of 
its powerful neighbors. Nevertheless, the elements of 
German and French civilization were not simply absorbed; 
they were transformed, adapted, and nationalized, and 
became a real part of the life of the nation. 






CHAPTER III 
THE RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE COMMUNES 

A new epoch opens with the twelfth century in the 
history of Belgium. The era is frequently called the 
"Time of the Communes/ ' because the internal political 
life of the country, from then on, was dominated by the 
development of the free cities (communes) and of their 
municipal institutions. And it has been said that "in 
the part played by the cities since the twelfth century lies 
the best of the history of the Netherlands/' 

Until the rise of the communes, only two classes of 
people, the noblemen and the priests, were given any 
recognition. There remained, of course, the peasant 
farmers, but they had no political or social power. After 
the twelfth century, a new class sprang into existence — 
the burgesses (bourgeois, burgers), the citizens of the free 
cities — and the rise of that class exerted a tremendous 
influence on the political and social development of the 
nation. To the tyranny of feudalism it opposed the 
spirit of personal and collective freedom, and the social 
construction of the nation was materially influenced by 
the introduction of the new elements it represented. 

The origin and development of the communes was 
mainly due to economic conditions: the Belgian cities 
of the Middle Ages were the daughters of trade and 
industry. 

Beginning with the eleventh century many signs 
indicated a complete revival of trade, which had been 

36 





THE BELFRY OF GHENT 

On the right the Town Hall 



RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE COMMUNES 37 

nearly annihilated by the internecine struggles and the 
invasion of the Normans during the ninth century. At 
the end of the tenth century Flanders was already in 
touch with the Arab merchants trading in the Baltic; 
coins of the counts of Flanders are to be found in Den- 
mark, Prussia, and Russia. The merchants of that time 
were traveling merchants, going from one town to another, 
and never remaining permanently in any one spot. All 
along the rivers wharves were established for discharging 
goods and wares, as well as winter quarters for the traders 
for the period during which the rivers were frozen. These 
were to be found at Valenciennes, Cambrai, Ghent on 
the Scheldt, Dinant, Huy, Liege, and Maestricht on the 
Meuse. Bruges became a central meeting-place for 
Flemish, Walloon, German, Frisian, and Anglo-Saxon 
merchants, and between the Scheldt and the Thames 
commercial intercourse was frequent. Little by little 
there grew up a special class who depended for a living on 
sale and purchase. A man became a merchant just as 
another became a knight, a priest, or a farmer. All 
those without land, the discontented "serfs" who suc- 
ceeded in escaping from the domain to which they were 
attached, steadily augmented this early nucleus of the 
merchant class. 

The invasion of England by William the Conqueror 
(1066) and the large numbers of the Flemings who par- 
ticipated in it strengthened the economic ties between 
that country and Flanders, between London and Bruges. 
In Bruges 1 vessels from all parts of Europe were loaded 
with cargoes for London : wine from France and Germany, 

1 The outlet to the sea for the city of Bruges was by means of the river 
Zwyn. 



38 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

stone from Tournai, cloth of gold and groceries sent by 
the merchants of Lombardy, wool and linen cloths manu- 
factured in Flanders. The prosperity of the Flemish 
trade attracted the representatives of European com- 
merce; fairs and yearly markets were established at 
Thourout, Messines, Lille, Ypres, and Douai. 

Along with trade came the development of industry. 
On the Belgian coast the sheep-raising industry goes back 
as far as the early days of Roman occupation; woolen 
cloths were a special manufacture of the region. The 
more extensive the " polders " — the meadows wrested from 
the sea — became, the more the number of sheep raised 
on them increased, and consequently also the number 
of people connected with the wool industry. As trade 
developed the conditions of that industry, more and more 
people found occupation in the manufacture of woolen 
cloths. A special class of craftsmen was born. They 
deserted the countryside and settled down in the neighbor- 
hood of the merchants; trade and industry attracted 
each other. Flanders then became the seat of the cloth 
industry. 

Another kind of industry was in process of development 
in Eastern Belgium, in the valley of the Upper Meuse. 
This was a mountainous region, filled with copper and tin 
mines along the banks of the river between Huy and 
Dinant. Here was developed a metal industry, whose 
products were shipped out on the river Meuse. After 
the tenth century the native mines were no longer suffi- 
cient for the needs of the country; the population of Huy 
and Dinant supplied its needs from the mines of Goslar 
in Germany. The products of the copper and tin industry 
were exported to France and England. 



RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE COMMUNES 39 

Brabant, the central part of Belgium, remained for 
a long time purely agricultural. In the middle of the 
twelfth century, however, a highroad was constructed be- 
tween Cologne and Bruges, passing through Maestricht, 
Saint-Trond, Leau, Louvain, Brussels, Alost, and Ghent. 
Trade now flowed, not only from south to north by the 
Scheldt and the Meuse, but also from east to west along 
the new commercial road. 

This remarkable development of trade and industry 
was mainly responsible for the origin and growth of the 
communes. Of course, for many centuries episcopal 
residences (civitates), castles and manors (castra), churches 
and monasteries had been centers of civilization and 
an attraction for the population of the neighborhood. 
And under the protection of their walls were grouped 
many wealthy villages. The latter, however, would 
probably never have developed into cities except for the 
presence of a colony of merchants and craftsmen. These 
colonies established themselves in neighborhoods where 
they could find favorable conditions for trading as well as 
protection for their commerce. Naturally, therefore, 
they settled in the vicinity of castles and convents (the 
castles affording military and the convents moral pro- 
tection), at the confluence of two or more rivers, along a 
commercial highroad, in the curve of a gulf, or at the 
mouth of a stream. In this manner the cities of Bruges, 
Ghent, Brussels, Louvain, Liege, Malines, etc., were born, 
for it is an interesting point of Belgian history that nearly 
all the cities originated during the Middle Ages, very 
few of them dating back to the Roman times. Those 
colonies of merchants and craftsmen grouped together 
in professional and religious associations were called 



40 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

"guilds," and introduced an entirely new spirit among 
the people of the growing town. The unfree population 
dependent upon the convent, the church, or the castle 
had no means of changing its conditions of life, bound as 
it was by the numerous ties of feudal and other obligations. 
But the traders had to secure for themselves a certain 
degree of liberty, safety, and autonomy. The feudal 
regime or the rules of the manor were intolerable to them. 
The operation of the system was too tyrannous; it acted 
too much as a restraint on private liberty and would 
have rendered the free development of commercial and 
industrial enterprises impossible. 

The guilds, therefore, formerly purely professional 
associations, soon began to meddle in politics and to 
become political organizations as well. Their members 
discussed in their guild-halls, built for their business 
meetings, the changes desired in the existing social, 
economic, and political conditions of the community, 
and carried on propaganda in support of their demands. 

At the same time the members of the guilds began to 
build walls around the settlement, in order to protect the 
new city against attack from the outside. Such a forti- 
fied town was called burgus, bourg, "borough," and the 
inhabitants were called burgenseSj bourgeois, "burgesses." 

When the burgesses began to work for changes in the 
existing regime of the territory in which the town had 
developed, the princes and landlords to which that terri- 
tory belonged naturally showed opposition. In some 
cases they resisted the demands of the guild, but the 
people were frequently induced to rebel and, by a revolu- 
tionary method, to wrest from their overlords the rights 
they demanded. In most cases the princes recognized the 



RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE COMMUNES 41 

justice of the claims and granted the burgesses a new 
law, better suited to the needs of commerce and industry. 
This new law, the city law, different from the feudal law 
and the law of the manor, was called Keure in Flemish, 
charte de commune in French. It contained the political, 
social, and financial privileges granted by the landlord and 
the prince to the burgesses. When the city law was 
granted, the commune came into existence. One of 
the most important privileges of the commune was a 
special tribunal, called echevinage, schepenbank, composed 
of citizens and presided over by an officer appointed by 
the lord. 

The commune possessed political and judicial autonomy 
and its inhabitants were personally free. A man from a 
neighboring country or a foreigner who had dwelt in the 
city for one year and one day became a burgess and 
enjoyed all the privileges of citizenship. Although 
politically autonomous, the commune still owed certain 
obligations to its lord. These were mainly an oath of 
allegiance and the duty of assisting the lord with its army 
of citizens. This latter duty sometimes created curious 
situations. At the battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, 
when King Philip IV of France was defeated by the 
Flemish communists, the inhabitants of Louvain fought 
on the side of the French King against their Flemish 
brethren, because their lord, the Duke of Brabant, was a 
partisan of Philip. 

Although the commune owed certain duties to the 
lord, it had also, as a politically autonomous body, some 
important rights: the right to have a special seal to be 
appended to the official documents issued by the com- 
mune; the right to build a city hall and a belfry, the 



42 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

belfry being a tower, usually erected in the market- 
place, where the bell that called the burgesses to arms 
was hung, and where the archives of the city were care- 
fully kept in iron safes. As the commune exercised the 
right of life and death over its members, it erected as 
symbols of that right the pillory and the gallows, generally 
at the gate or outside the city wall. 

The development of the communes was not quite the 
same in the various sections of Belgium. In the princi- 
pality of Liege, the cities of Dinant, Huy, and Saint-Trond 
obtained their privileges sooner than Liege itself. The 
charter of freedom for Huy dates from 1066. In the 
ecclesiastical principality of Cambrai the commune was 
established by violently revolutionary means in 1077. 
The merchants of Cambrai suffered from the tyranny of 
the officers appointed by the bishops, and a conspiracy was 
organized. On a certain day when Bishop Gerard left 
the town, the citizens ran to arms, under the leadership 
of the prominent merchants, and proclaimed the com- 
mune. But the bishop returned unexpectedly and his 
knights killed many of the people and pillaged the houses 
of the leaders. The supremacy of the bishop was restored 
for a long period. 

In Flanders, the counts were sincere protectors of the 
communes; they regarded them as a mighty resource of 
their treasury and early recognized the claims of the 
mercatores. From the end of the eleventh century the 
main demands contained in the propaganda of the guilds 
were accepted and special privileges were granted to the 
cities. From the time of Count Charles the Good (1119— 
27), each city had its own echevins (sheriffs), chosen from 
among the burgesses; the president alone, the bailli, was 



RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE COMMUNES 43 

an officer of the lord, and responsible only to him. The 
house of the counts of Alsace (1128) owed its accession 
to the communes and therefore protected the cities in a 
special manner. They gave to all of them the same 
municipal charter, a copy of the charter of Arras, and 
both the Flemish and the Walloon communes of Flanders 
enjoyed identically the same privileges. 

In the duchy of Brabant, the communes developed 
more slowly, owing to the fact that conditions for the 
development of trade and industry were not so much 
advanced here. From the time when the commercial 
highroad between Cologne and Bruges was constructed 
the municipal movement was participated in more 
actively by the princes. Here, also, the princes came 
to assume the same sympathetic attitude as in Flanders, 
but there was no general organization granting the same 
type of constitution for all the cities. The privileges 
of each city were recognized and granted separately. 

The existence of the communes exerted a powerful 
influence on the internal politics of the feudal lords of 
Belgium. The latter were forced to take the communes 
more and more into account and to change their political 
attitude in accordance with the wishes of the burgesses. 
The knights, almost ruined by the decline of the value of 
the land, rendered military service only when paid for it. 
The feudal troops were no longer sufficient in numbers. 
The princes were obliged to seek the aid of the cities, to 
beg for taxes in order to pay the loans they were now 
obliged to contract for the allowances of the mercenary 
troops which they were compelled to hire. The princes 
no longer governed alone; they had to respect and 
cultivate the friendship of the cities. Their subjects 



44 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

began to take part in the political combinations of the 
feudalists. As a matter of fact, war was no longer 
possible without the consent of the communes, and it 
resulted, therefore, that the burgesses, if in disagreement 
with their lord, instead of assisting him, appealed to 
foreign rulers and fought against their own prince. It 
may be said that, owing to these changes in political life, 
the communes had succeeded in breaking the regime of 
feudalism. This may be cited as a supreme instance of 
their importance in Belgian history. 

No less important was the influence they exerted — 
mainly during the thirteenth century — in the development 
of the economic, industrial, social, intellectual, and artistic 
life of the country. During that period trade and 
industry were essentially prominent in the life of the 
people. On account of their excellent location, the Bel- 
gian seaports became the meeting-places of vessels from 
the North Sea, the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Orient. 
Ever since the existence of the commercial highroad 
between Cologne and Bruges the trade of the former had 
declined more and more. Given a shorter route by land, 
it is, generally speaking, that which is selected by mer- 
chants by which to forward their goods. Ghent became 
the center of commercial relations between Flanders and 
Germany, and many privileges were granted to Ghent 
tradesmen. Antwerp also grew little by little into an 
important commercial center, being connected with the 
Cologne-Bruges road by means of the Scheldt, that joins 
that road at Ghent. 

Bruges, however, remained the commercial metropolis. 
It was in direct contact with the sea. Located midway 
between the Sunt and the straits of Gibraltar, it stored 



RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE COMMUNES 45 

goods arriving from the north and from the south. A 
new harbor was constructed at Damme and connected 
with Bruges by a canal, whose powerful moles have been 
immortalized by Dante in his Divina Comedia} The 
market-place at Bruges was crowded as much as was 
the Piazza San Marco in Venice. Toward the middle of the 
thirteenth century Bruges was enjoying trade relations 
with England, Normandy, Gascony, Spain, Provence, 
and the Hanseatic cities. In the fourteenth century 
the development of the harbor reached its climax by the 
organization of a regular transport service between the 
Flemish port and Genoa and Venice. 

The growth of Flemish commerce was increased by 
the liberal free exchange policy of the counts of Flanders, 
especially since the time of Baldwin IX (1202). There 
was no taking advantage of foreign trade, no heavy taxes, 
no stringent customs. Many privileges were granted 
to the "Osterlings," the merchants from Germany. If a 
war broke out between Flanders and a Hanseatic city, the 
Osterlings were allowed a period of three months in which 
to leave the country and to put their belongings in safety. 
The same privileges were granted to merchants from 
Poitou, Gascony, and Spain. 

Necessarily, also, Bruges became a center of financial 
operations: pawnbrokers from Cahors, Lombardy, Flor- 
ence, and Sienna flocked to the city in large numbers and 
soon monopolized all credit operations. The Lombardic 
pawnbrokers, especially, invaded the whole country 
between the Meuse and the sea, and it is an astonishing 
fact that in small cities like Leau (in the neighborhood of 
Louvain) branch offices of the mighty banking houses 

1 Inferno, XV, 4-6. 



46 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

of Paris were to be found. The important part played 
by the circulation of money is also proved by the many 
coin reforms of that time. The Belgian coins, owing to 
their excellence and high standard, were imitated in 
Germany by the Hanseatic cities. 

At the time of the communes manufacture was even 
more important than trade. The Belgian provinces 
became essentially an industrial country: from Douai to 
Saint-Trond there is not a city which was not connected 
with the cloth industry. Belgian textures became un- 
equaled in suppleness, delicacy, and beauty of color; 
they were to be found everywhere throughout Europe, 
and were exported even to the bazaars of the Orient by 
vessels from Venice, Marseilles, and Barcelona. It is in 
the south of Flanders that the art of dyeing seems to have 
reached the highest perfection. Ypres, Douai, with its 
famous ecarlate, and Arras are especially entitled to 
mention in this particular. The cloth industry was soon 
introduced farther north, in Ghent and Bruges, and also 
in Brabant. Brussels, Malines, and Louvain early rivaled 
the Flemish cities. 

The annexation of Walloon Flanders by France de- 
prived the Flemish cloth industry of one of its sources 
of raw material, and it became necessary to obtain it 
from England. Since that time Flanders and England 
have been naturally dependent on each other and in this 
fact is to be found the reason for the close alliance between 
these countries, from a political point of view, especially 
in the fourteenth century. The commercial relations 
between Flanders and England were monopolized by a 
powerful association of wool importers, the Hansa of 
London, composed of Flemish tradesmen. After a 




THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF SAINT GUDULA, BRUSSELS 



RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE COMMUNES 47 

while the cloth industry developed to such an extent that 
the supply of English wool was no longer sufficient : wool 
from Spain and Navarre was also employed. 

Aside from the territory in which the cloth industry 
flourished, Belgium possessed also an agricultural region, 
far less developed, of which Hainaut was the center. 
Here the cities were merely large villages : Mons, Binche, 
and Ath cannot be compared with the cities of Flanders 
and Brabant. Namur and Luxemburg also were merely 
agricultural regions with no more than 8,000 and 5,000 
population, respectively; whereas Ghent and Bruges had a 
populace of no less than 80,000, at least at the climax of 
their development. 

In the valley of the Meuse, cities like Saint-Trond and 
Huy, where the cloth industry flourished in smaller 
degree, were unable to rival those of Flanders. The 
city of Dinant, on the Meuse, which, as stated before, was, 
from the end of the tenth century, engaged in the copper 
industry, may be singled out. The products of Dinant, 
called dinanderie, were exported throughout Europe. 
The merchants of Dinant had a storehouse in London 
and were members of the Hanseatic Association. 

Finally, there remains the city of Liege in Eastern 
Belgium. This was a city of priests, the residence of the 
bishop-prince. It was filled with churches, convents, and 
chapels. The land was owned largely by religious com- 
munities. But the priests were more numerous than 
the burgesses. 1 There was no thought here of industry 
until the end of the Middle Ages, when this part of the 
country became the seat of collieries and ironworks. 

1 The priests and monks, as subject to the canon or ecclesiastical law, 
were not citizens. They were judged by their special tribunals, not by 
the echevinage. 



48 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

Under the influence of such commercial and industrial 
conditions as we have recited, the life of the country 
people and the control of the soil were entirely trans- 
formed. After the twelfth century the old agricultural 
regime broke down and servitude became an exception; 
generally speaking, the peasant was thenceforward a 
free man, like the burgess. This important change came 
in connection with the crisis introduced by the new eco- 
nomic conditions of the twelfth century. At this time 
the value of money decreased rapidly and both the 
ecclesiastical and lay landlords found themselves threat- 
ened with bankruptcy. The methods of the old economic 
organization had to be changed if ruin was to be averted. 
New methods, therefore, were introduced by the Cistercian 
monks. The houses of this monastic order were very 
numerous at the beginning of the twelfth century; they 
constituted a class of an entirely new type. Most of their 
establishments were located among the marshes and 
heaths, which they were obliged to convert into fertile 
soil. For that work the monks alone were insufficient; 
they needed the help of so-called lay-brethren, who cul- 
tivated and fertilized the land. Round the monasteries 
themselves they established large farms, which became 
centers of new agricultural methods. The raising of 
cattle and the culture of corn were now their main busi- 
ness, and the crops were not merely intended for the con- 
sumption of the convent but a large part was sent to market 
to be sold. The peasants employed for this work were 
no longer "serfs," but free workers coming from outside. 
Servitude did not exist on the territory owned by the 
Cistercians. The monks soon became wealthy capitalists, 
but they utilized their means in clearing the heaths of 



RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE COMMUNES 49 

the Campine, the forests of Hainaut, and in creating the 
" polders " of the Flemish coast. At the end of the 
thirteenth century the clearing of the land was finished 
and the farms and " polders" were rented out to free 
farmers. That system was likewise followed by the other 
monastic orders, and the class of free farmers soon grew 
more and more numerous. The example given by the 
Cistercians was followed by laymen. A large part of 
Brabant, Hainaut, Flanders, and Namur was covered 
with heaths, woods, and marshes. The dukes and counts, 
seeing what had been accomplished, began to order this 
wild land to be cleared. Along with the clearing of the 
soil came the foundation of new cities. The Belgian cities 
whose names contain the suffix -sart, -rode, or -kerke 1 date 
from this time. In order to get workers enough for clearing 
the land, the princes sought to attract them by granting 
special privileges, such as complete personal freedom and 
cession of land subject to a very small payment. A new 
type of peasant was born in Flanders — the peasant who 
was a freeman and who owned his own land. The 
peasants of Hainaut, Namur, and Ardennes were, of 
course, less in touch with the modern spirit; the different 
commercial and industrial conditions operated to keep 
them longer in servitude. Since the thirteenth century 
most of the Belgian peasants have been free, whereas in 
Germany servitude appeared even at the end of the 
Middle Ages. 

As to the literary life and the respective positions of the 
French and Flemish languages at this time, the next 
chapter, which deals with the political conditions of 
Belgium in the period of the communes, will show the 

1 E.g., Rixensart, Baesrode, Middelkerke. 



50 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

increasing influence of France, both in Flanders and in 
Brabant. It will not be surprising, therefore, to find 
that France exercised an influence upon Belgium from a 
literary and artistic point of view also. Flanders, a fief 
of France, was the first to feel that influence, and to feel 
it in a greater degree than any other Belgian principality. 
As a spoken language, French made a strong advance 
in the thirteenth century, albeit the conquest was a peace- 
ful one. The wealthy communes of French or Walloon 
Flanders, like Arras, became real centers of French litera- 
ture and culture. The Cistercians spread the knowledge 
of French in the monasteries, their order being originally 
French. The aristocracy also took part in the movement, 
following the example of the princes. The counts were 
all of Romance descent. The house of Alsace came from 
France; Baldwin VIII and Baldwin IX were Walloons; 
the countesses Jeanne and Marguerite were educated in 
Paris; the counts of the house of Dampierre came origi- 
nally from Champagne. The language of the court as 
well as the language officially used was French. The 
wealthy burgesses sought to imitate the noblemen, and it 
was necessary for the merchants to know French to enable 
them to visit the fairs of Champagne. 

However, we know that some of the commercial acts 
were written in Flemish. Flemish was overwhelmingly 
the popular tongue in Ghent and Bruges, and public 
officers were obliged to know and speak it, as well as 
French and Latin. As before, the common people 
remained faithful to the Flemish language; it was the 
only one they spoke. Flemish was also the principal lan- 
guage spoken in Brabant. Here the dukes strongly re- 
sisted French political hegemony, and Brabant remained 



RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE COMMUNES 51 

the most independent Belgian province. French was, of 
course, made use of by the dukes in their private and 
domestic affairs, but Flemish prevailed in all their rela- 
tions with their subjects; it was the language used by 
public officers. If the aristocracy was Gallicized, it was 
merely a matter of custom and bon ton. 

As to the Romance literary movement, its productions 
were to be found in those regions where trade and industry 
tended to the increase of wealth. Luxemburg did not 
produce anything and Liege very little; in the latter city, 
moreover, the persons in the entourage of the bishop were 
largely German or Flemish. Romance literature flour- 
ished in Flanders, Brabant, and Hainaut; it was written 
in Picard, the original dialect that the writers themselves 
preferred, in opposition, so to speak, to French. The 
literature in question consisted partly of translations into 
the vernacular of Latin works written on science, partly of 
historical productions, and partly of poetry. The historical 
genre was much cultivated, but was more and more limited 
to castles and convents. Although the burgesses of the 
communes, eager to know as much as possible, found 
interest and pleasure in the historical writers (and it may 
be pointed out that the valuable chronicle of Philip 
Mousket was composed, about 1240, for the townspeople 
of Tournai), the citizens of the communes preferred the 
new genre introduced in literature, the poesie bourgeoise, 
wherein animals played a large part as personages; the 
epopee of Rinehart the Fox is particularly famous. 

The rich development of Romance literature in Flan- 
ders and Hainaut prevented to some extent the early 
birth of an original and independent Flemish literature. 
Flemish literature had modest origins: it consisted at 



52 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

first merely of translations from the French, but it is 
highly interesting to note that it was through the inter- 
mediary of Flemish translations that French productions 
were introduced into Germany. The Legend of Saint 
Servais and the Eneide, composed by the Flemish knight, 
Hendrik Van Veldeke, following Latin sources, enjoyed 
an immense success and were promptly imitated in 
Germany. The French version of Rinehart the Fox 
was adapted in Flemish by a certain William, who sur- 
passed his model, localized the story to the neighborhood 
of Ghent and the country of Waes, and gave to his work a 
real Flemish color. 

The spirit of the Flemish burgesses, ordinarily inclined 
to be jeering and satirical, nevertheless inspired the great- 
est poet of thirteenth-century Flemish literature, Jacob 
Van Maerlandt, called "the father of all the Flemish 
poets." He founded in Flanders the didactical genre, 
adapted to the practical and sensible character of the 
nation. His object was to give to laymen access to 
the knowledge hitherto monopolized by the clergymen. 
His writings were in the field of natural history, politics 
and ethics, and sacred and profane history. He enjoyed 
great success and achieved the honor of seeing his works 
translated into French. Maerlandt, although he seemed 
to despise the French poets because he found their work 
too frivolous, was not a political writer. His greatness 
lay in the fact that he exercised a decisive influence on 
Flemish culture. He brought the Flemish language to 
the rank of a really literary language and developed it 
into an instrument capable of expressing the national 
genius. The soul of Flanders lives in Maerlandt's 
poems. 



RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE COMMUNES 53 

There yet remains to be considered the artistic develop- 
ment during the early period of the communes. French 
influence was prominent in the thirteenth century in the 
southern and western parts of the country. Tournai, of 
course, remained the artistic center of Flanders, and it was 
through Tournai that Gothic art was introduced into 
Belgium, just as Romantic art had earlier been intro- 
duced through Liege. The new choir of the cathedral of 
Tournai (ca. 1250) is remarkably French in its plan and 
methods of construction. But, on the whole, the school 
of Tournai does not merely copy the French style. It 
possesses its own originality; its type is full of charm and 
elegance. Its influence, thanks to the use so frequently 
made of the stone of Tournai, is overwhelming in Flanders, 
especially in Ghent and Bruges and in Hainaut. 

Brabant, on the other hand, has a style of its own, 
owing to the fact that it uses its own local materials, 
found in its numerous quarries. There is a wide difference 
between the style of St. John's Church at Ghent and St. 
Gudula's Church at Brussels, although their choirs are 
nearly contemporaneous. In the course of the fifteenth 
century the school of Brabant became dominant. 

In another region — that part of Flanders near the sea 
and known as " maritime Flanders' ' — stone from Tournai 
was not used because of the difficulty of access, and here 
there is also to be found an independence of style. There 
brick was made use of in place of stone, and, although 
the inspiration of the architecture came from Tournai, 
the style of that school underwent some change, owing 
to the difference in the materials employed. The houses 
of Bruges reveal the ornaments in brick peculiar to that 
style. 



54 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

An entirely rich and original style, a sign of the power 
and the wealth of the communes, is to be found in the civic 
monuments, particularly the town halls. Everyone is 
familiar with the hall of Bruges and the magnificent hall 
of Ypres, a gem of beauty. With their wonderful belfries, 
their wide rooms, and the vast proportions of the edifices 
themselves, they symbolize in a wonderful manner the 
strength, the pride, and the glory of the Belgian cities in 
the Middle Ages. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE TIME 
OF THE COMMUNES 

A consideration of the politics of the Belgian dukes 
and counts during the course of the twelfth and the thir- 
teenth centuries leads to a division of this epoch into two 
periods. During the twelfth century a policy of main- 
taining a balance between their mighty neighbors, France, 
England, and the Empire, was pursued. At the begin- 
ning of the thirteenth century France gained the hegemony 
in Europe, and the Belgian princes were forced to submit 
to the strong influence of that country. 

In the first quarter of the twelfth century the Struggle 
for the Investitures had destroyed German influence in 
the eastern part of Belgium. The influence of the 
emperors was on the wane. One of the most loyal of the 
partisans of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the Count 
of Hainaut, succeeded in remaining neutral during the 
war between Germany and France. The Count declared 
that "he was not obliged to put his fortresses in the hands 
of the imperial troops and to grant them passage through 
his territory, as that would bring devastation to his 
country. His country being located between Germany 
and France, he ought to remain neutral during this war." 

The unsympathetic attitude of the Lotharingian princes 
toward Germany, however, was not dictated by anything 
like national hostility or racial prejudice, for the Flemish 
principalities, with their inhabitants of Germanic descent, 
were as unfriendly as the Walloon principalities. It was 

55 



56 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

indifference, rather, for the Lotharingian princes had no 
interests in common with the Empire. They went their 
own way and had little regard for the Emperor. The 
social and economic development of the country between 
the Scheldt and the Meuse likewise prevented the people 
of that region from sympathizing with Germany. The 
culture of Germany, at this time a purely agricultural 
country, was far behind the culture of the Belgian princi- 
palities. The Lotharingian princes turned their eyes 
toward Flanders, with which they enjoyed important 
commercial relations. On the other hand, the counts of 
Flanders had sought, ever since the reign of Thierry of 
Alsace (1168), to interfere with the countries across the 
Scheldt and to meddle in the politics of Holland, Brabant, 
Hainaut, Namur, Gueldre, and even Liege. Henceforth 
the Belgian principalities, having common political and 
economic interests, will be found to have an increasingly 
common history. Thanks to its relations with Flanders, 
Lotharingia now began to come into contact with France 
and England. 

Flanders, at this time, was very powerful. In 1163 
Count Philip of Alsace had occupied, in the name of his 
wife, the French counties of Vermandois, Amienois, and 
Valois, and had become the first vassal of the French 
crown. But at that moment the throne of France was 
occupied by a king of very strong personality, who him- 
self directed the government of France and who had 
decided to destroy the power of his restless vassals. That 
king was Philip August. He directed his efforts espe- 
cially against Flanders. He is quoted as having once 
said: " France will absorb Flanders or will be destroyed 
by it." 



POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES 57 

It was in vain that Count Philip of Alsace sought to 
win the support of the German Emperor. Having failed 
on this side, he turned to England for help against the 
threatening policy of his overlord. This was a highly 
important event (1187), for from that time on it became 
the constant policy of Flanders to keep England as an 
ally against France. 

When Philip of Alsace died suddenly during the siege 
of Saint Jean d'Acre by the Crusaders, June 1, 1191, 
Philip August regarded this as a favorable opportunity 
to annex the county. He was prevented from doing so, 
however, by the action of the Count of Hainaut, Baldwin 
V, brother-in-law of the late Flemish count, who invaded 
Flanders and succeeded in bringing about the political 
union of the two counties. The county of Artois, how- 
ever, refused to enter the union, and returned to Philip 
August. The latter hoped that, as Baldwin V (IX in 
Flanders) had only two daughters as his heirs, it would 
be easy to dispose of a strong political influence in the 
country after the death of Baldwin. Accordingly he 
brought about the marriage of Jeanne of Flanders, the 
eldest daughter of Baldwin, 1 to one of his creatures, Fer- 
rand of Portugal. Henceforth he considered that Flan- 
ders would be in his hands. Subsequent events, however, 
were to prove his mistake. 

When Count Ferrand arrived in Flanders he was met 
by the action of a strong feudal party, secretly supported 
by the subsidies of Philip August. He tried to escape 
the threatening French influence and, following the policy 
of his predecessors, appealed to England for help. Now 

1 Count Baldwin became Emperor of Constantinople and was killed 
by the Bulgarians after the battle of Adrianople (1205). 



58 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

began a fierce struggle between French and English gold 
for influence in the country. Moderately financed by 
England, the partisans of the latter became stronger every 
day. Finally Count Ferrand took a decided stand, 
repudiated his allegiance to his overlord, and openly 
accepted the English alliance. Just at this time a vast 
coalition had been organized against the French king by 
John I of England, Emperor Otto of Brunswick, and 
Henry I, Duke of Brabant, with whom Ferrand of Flanders 
joined. On July 27, 1214, the battle of Bouvines was 
fought. The allies were defeated by Philip August; 
Count Ferrand of Flanders fell into the hands of his feudal 
lord, and was imprisoned at Paris. 

The victory of Bouvines established the political 
hegemony of France in Europe and the subjection of 
Flanders. The former policy of balance was no longer 
possible for the Belgian princes. In face of the over- 
whelming power of the French King, there remained 
nothing but submission. From the date of the battle of 
Bouvines to the beginning of the fourteenth century 
Flanders was subject to the political and intellectual 
domination of its strong neighbor. 

The other Belgian principalities likewise shared the 
ambition to win the friendship of the French King. 
From now on the French monarchs found no occasion 
for armed interference with the Belgian princes. Diplo- 
macy met all needs, and agents from Paris, often shrewd 
Italians, brought to the heads of the Belgian principali- 
ties the wishes — and orders — of their master. 

Only one Belgian prince, the Duke of Brabant, resisted 
the French influence. Since the former duchy of Lotha- 
ringia, at the beginning of the twelfth century, had been 



POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES 59 

broken up into many parts, Brabant became the leading 
power in the central part of Belgium. The house of the 
dukes of Brabant was indeed the only dynasty that could 
boast of its national origin; the other Belgian princi- 
palities all fell, during the thirteenth century, into the 
hands of new and foreign families. The dynasty of 
Brabant was thus exceedingly popular; it won the affec- 
tion of the noblemen and of the communes, and the per- 
son of the duke was the object of real national affection. 
Moreover, the policy of the dukes was positive and 
practical, and, above all, paid due regard to the interests 
of their subjects. One of the main principles of this 
policy was the conquest of the commercial highroad 
between the Rhine and the sea, upon which the economic 
prosperity of Brabant depended. 

As the principality of Liege and the county of Limburg 
blocked the road to the east, controlling all traffic between 
the Rhine and Bruges, after the reign of Henry I (1190) 
the dukes of Brabant turned their eyes in this direction. 
The war with Liege in Henry's time was not very succes- 
ful. During the thirteenth century, therefore, the dukes 
sought to overpower Liege by a resort to diplomacy. As 
the bishop-prince of Liege was engaged in a continuous 
struggle against the communes, the dukes of Brabant 
sometimes supported the bishop against the burgesses, 
sometimes helped the latter against their lord, according 
to the needs of the moment. 

Ever since 1283, when the Countess Ermengard of 
Limburg died without heirs, the dukes had cast covetous 
eyes on Limburg. Many pretenders, including several 
princes from the left bank of the Rhine, had sprung up. 
Duke John I of Brabant decided to strike the final blow 



60 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

against the coalition formed against him by the lords of 
Fauquemont, the Count of Luxemburg, Renaud of 
Gueldre, and the mighty Archbishop of Cologne. The 
coming battle would decide to whom should belong the 
supremacy between the Rhine and the Meuse. By skilful 
diplomacy, Duke John succeeded in preventing the Count 
of Flanders and the Bishop of Liege from allying them- 
selves with his enemies. On June 5, 1288, the armies 
met at Worringen, on the Rhine. The battle lasted a 
whole day with terrific onslaughts. The army of Brabant, 
composed of the knights of the duchy, and the com- 
munal infantry from Louvain, Brussels, Antwerp, Tirle- 
mont, Jodoigne, and Nivelles, although inferior in numbers 
to the foe, won a complete victory by the superiority 
of its tactics. It was a rout for Duke John's enemies. 
Twelve hundred of them fell on the battlefield, and both 
the Archbishop of Cologne and the Count of Gueldre 
were made prisoners, the Count of Luxemburg and his 
brothers being numbered among the slain. By sunset, 
the remainder of the enemy was in full flight and the 
trumpets of Brabant gaily proclaimed the victory. 

The victory of Worringen had far-reaching conse- 
quences. It sealed the political decline of the archbishops 
of Cologne, who thenceforth interfered no more in Belgian 
affairs; Limburg was annexed by Brabant, and the latter 
extended its authority over the east of Lotharingia. 
The dukes now controlled the commercial road between 
Germany and the sea, and commanded the course of the 
Meuse, and since their sway encircled the principality of 
Liege, no further danger was to be feared in this quarter. 
The German Emperor made no protest against the annexa- 
tion of Limburg, although it was actually territory of the 



POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES 61 

Empire. It was now perfectly clear that the influence of 
Germany in Eastern Belgium had come to an end. 

This fact encouraged the kings of France to seek to 
occupy in Belgian affairs the place formerly occupied by 
Germany. But although the dukes of Brabant main- 
tained peaceful relations with France, they had no wish 
to become simply the instruments of French politics. 
They resisted every attempt at domination. Henceforth 
Brabant, thanks to its spirit of independence, the strong 
and able diplomacy of its rulers, and the growing spirit of 
patriotism that characterized its people, became more and 
more the bulwark of Belgian liberty. It will be found 
hereafter as the very center of resistance to every attempt 
at foreign domination, and, in the sixteenth century, it 
was the States of Brabant which led the struggle against 
the tyranny of Spain. 

At the time that the battle of Worringen strengthened 
the position of Brabant in Central and Eastern Belgium, 
a new king, Philip IV, called Philip the Fair, ascended the 
throne of France. His policy was to continue and com- 
plete the plans of Philip August, the strengthening of the 
central power at the expense of the grand vassals, and 
the subjection of Flanders to the crown. 

The ruling count in Flanders at this time was Guy de 
Dampierre, whose family came originally from Cham- 
pagne. Guy had become one of the most powerful princes 
of Belgium. Supported by the French King, he had 
successfully brought to an end a struggle with the hostile 
dynasty of the D'Avesnes in Hainaut, had annexed the 
county of Namur, and had won real influence in Liege, 
Luxemburg, and Gueldre. Philip the Fair soon began to 
fear the growing might of his vassal and decided to crush it. 



62 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

The internal struggles in Flanders offered him an 
opportune pretext. In the beginning, it was only the 
wealthy, the merchants and owners of property, who 
exercised political power in the commune and who con- 
trolled the offices. Later on, the laboring classes, form- 
ing themselves into corporations, became powerful and 
claimed the right to control the administration of the 
communal finances and a share in the public offices. 
The wealthy — the patricians — resisted, endeavoring to 
maintain their preponderance. The result was a violent 
civil war between patricians and craftsmen, between rich 
and poor. Everywhere leaders appeared in support of 
the poor: at Liege, Henry of Dinant; at Louvain, Peter 
Coutereel; in Flanders, Yoens, Ackerman, Artevelde. 
Generally speaking, after the fourteenth century the 
craftsmen triumphed, but everywhere only after bloody 
revolts. Once victorious, the laboring classes in many 
cities expelled the patricians from all public offices and 
admitted them only when enlisted in some corporation of 
craftsmen. In this manner the democratic regime was 
established in place of the former aristocracy. 

Nowhere were those democratic struggles so violent 
as in Flanders. There the three powerful communes of 
Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres tyrannized over the smaller 
cities and the country. In order to crush the supremacy 
of the patricians, who were the masters in these three 
cities, Count Guy de Dampierre supported the claims of 
the craftsmen. In their turn, the patricians appealed for 
help to the King of France, feudal lord of their count. 
Thus two parties sprang into existence: the party of the 
poor, who, faithful to the Count, adopted his banner with 
the device of the Lion of Flanders, and took the name of 



POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES 63 

Clauwaerts ("men of the [lion's] claw"); an d the party 
of the wealthy patricians, protected by King Philip, who, 
owing to the presence of a fleur-de-lis in the royal French 
banner, were called Leliaerts ("men of the lily"). 

On the cry for help by the latter, King Philip invaded 
Flanders, defeated the army of the Count, took his vassal 
prisoner, and treated the country as a conquered land. 

But the arrogance of the French and especially of the 
governor, Jacques de Chatillon, excited the anger of the 
craftsmen. Those of Bruges secretly recalled the Clau- 
waerts who had been expelled from the city. Under the 
leadership of a weaver, Peter de Coninck, a revolt was 
planned. On a summer day of 1302, in the early hours 
of the morning, the conspirators entered Bruges, sur- 
prised the French and their sympathizers, and killed 
them. This event is spoken of as Matines brugeoises, 
"The Matins of Bruges." 

Exasperated, King Philip decided to avenge the revolt 
and the offense against his authority. A mighty army 
again invaded the country. Immediately the sons of the 
Count, John of Namur and William of Gulick, together 
with Peter de Coninck, organized resistance. The 
struggle was no longer a merely economic one between 
patricians and their French protectors on one side and the 
poor, as partisans of the Count, on the other. It was now 
a really national struggle, for defeat of the Flemish com- 
munes would mean the annexation of Flanders by France. 

Under the walls of Courtrai, in the meadows of Groen- 
inghe, the soldier-citizens of Bruges, assisted by many 
contingents of craftsmen from other parts of the country, 
met the flower of the French knighthood. The appar- 
ently impossible happened. The communes, fighting 



64 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

for the very existence of their country, defeated the army 
of the most powerful king in Christendom. 

That victory is called the " battle of the Golden Spurs/' 
because nearly six hundred golden spurs, belonging to the 
French knights, were found on the battlefield and sus- 
pended, as a token of thanks to God, in the vault of the 
basilica of Courtrai. 

The consequences of the battle of the Golden Spurs 
cannot be overestimated. From a political point of view 
it presents the same importance as the battle of Bouvines. 
It liberated Flanders from French influence and gave the 
first blow to the hegemony of France in Europe. In 
Rome, Pope Boniface VIII, a fierce enemy of King Philip, 
arose in the middle of the night in order to receive and 
rejoice over the news. 

Because the victory saved the national independence 
of Flanders and practically prevented the political absorp- 
tion of the other Belgian principalities by Philip the Fair, 
the Flemings, on July 11 of each year, celebrate the 
anniversary of the battle of the Golden Spurs as a great 
event in Belgian history. 

The victory of Courtrai gave impetus to real national 
feeling: all classes, and not least the priests, contributed 
with all their power to organizing further resistance to the 
French armies. During the first twenty years of the 
fourteenth century Flanders, by its own forces, without 
foreign assistance, resisted the onslaughts of three suc- 
cessive French kings. After the battle of Mons-en- 
Pevele (1303), which brought neither victory nor defeat 
for either side, the Flemings arrived with a new army, 
and Philip the Fair is quoted as having shouted in despair: 
"It rains Flemings!" 



POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES 65 

Finally peace was concluded in 1305 at Athis-sur- 
Orge. As a result of the intrigues of the French agents 
and the treachery of the Flemish delegates the conditions 
were very unfavorable for Flanders. The new count, 
Robert of Bethune, wanted peace; he did not care for 
the interests of the cities and the victory of the demo- 
cratic party. The country was obliged to yield and, in 
1319, after a new war, caused by the intrigues of the 
French King, was forced to abandon Walloon Flanders, 
including the cities of Lille, Douai, and Bethune. As the 
county of Artois had already been ceded to France in the 
time of Philip August, Flanders possessed no more Wal- 
loon territory. It retained only the old Germanic por- 
tions. It was a severe loss, but by that loss Flanders 
escaped forever absorption by the French monarchy. 

The battle of the Golden Spurs not only had far- 
reaching results from a national point of view; it also 
confirmed the victory of the democratic elements over 
the patricians in Flanders. In those Flemish cities where 
the latter were masters at the time of the battle they 
were overthown by the craftsmen after the victory. 
Moreover, the craftsmen of Liege, in the same year, and 
under the influence of the defeat of the Flemish patricians 
at Courtrai, which taught them that they could win if 
they were organized, inaugurated a revolt against the 
patricians of their own city. After many years of bloody 
struggle, they succeeded in wresting from the bishop- 
prince, Adolf de la Marck, the Peace of Fexhe, that 
practically founded the liberties of Liege. In Brabant, 
some years after the battle of Courtrai, in 1306, the 
craftsmen tried also to imitate their Flemish brethren, 
but here they were severely defeated. 



66 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

The movement, however, was now everywhere in full 
swing. The rights of the princes were more and more 
curtailed by the successful revolts of the craftsmen, and 
assurances were required that the privileges of the com- 
munes would be respected for all time. These demands 
resulted in the appointment of committees, composed of 
members of the nobility and members of the cities, the 
latter preponderating in number, in order to guarantee 
the privileges granted the commune at its inception and 
those won during the democratic struggles. We find 
such a committee in Brabant, where it was called the 
Council of Cortemberg (1312), and in the principality of 
Liege, under the name of Tribunal of the XXII. 

One of the most famous privileges won by the people 
during the communal struggles of the fourteenth century 
is that called the Joyeuse Entree of Brabant (1354-56). 
According to the stipulations of that charter of liberty, 
the territory of the duchy was to remain undivided and 
undiminished; the seven important cities of Brabant 
were to keep in their common possession the documents 
containing the municipal liberties; no offensive war was 
to be waged, no treaty concluded, no inch of territory 
ceded, no coin made, without the consent of the subjects. 
Commerce was to be free, and only legal taxes were to be 
imposed. The Duke undertook to care for the safety of 
the roads, to protect his people from arrest in foreign 
countries, to keep peace between the Rhine and the 
Meuse, and to respect the treaties concluded with 
Flanders and Liege. No native of Brabant might 
prosecute a fellow-countryman before a foreign court. 
The Duke himself was to be subject to the laws of the 
duchy. 



POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES 67 

A comparison of the political situation, as revealed by 
privileges like these, with the tyranny of the princes in 
feudal times, brings into a strong light all that was 
achieved, in point of view of freedom and liberty, by the 
communes of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 

The development of civic freedom and the spirit of 
democracy, such as we have described, in Flanders, Bra- 
bant, and Liege, did not exist, however, in the same 
measure in all the principalities of Belgium. They were 
the pride only of those regions where industrial and eco- 
nomic conditions had created the necessary basis for such 
developments. In the more agricultural regions of the 
country they were less in evidence or were introduced 
much later, and they did not make so deep an impres- 
sion on the life of the people. 

Luxemburg, for example, was a very large province, 
but not thickly populated. It was far removed from the 
large rivers, while the hills and forests made communica- 
tion very difficult. In the rocky lines the manors of the 
robber barons were built, and those watched the passing 
convoys of merchantmen and attacked them frequently. 
The historian Froissart depicts very realistically the 
aspect of the country. Speaking of the passing of the 
French troops through Luxemburg in 1388, he says: 

Two thousand workmen were sent ahead through the forests 
of Chimay and Neufchateau, in order to clear the way for the 
troops and to construct a road for the passage of the 1,200 carts 
of the army. When it had passed the picturesque convent of 
Orval, the army encountered severe difficulties : it advanced only 
two miles a day toward Bastogne, through the passes of the 
Ardennes, infested by savage animals and inhabited only by 
some colliers. The passage became even more difficult in Octo- 
ber, when the rivers overflowed from the rain, when the rocks 



68 A SHOUT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

were slippery, and the roads impassable. The barons of the 
Ardennes took advantage of it for attacking the convoys and 
pillaging the train. 

In such a country there could be no question of demo- 
cratic movements, of freedom and the privileges of cities. 
During the fourteenth century Luxemburg was famous, 
not for its communes, but for its princes. The most 
celebrated of them is Duke John, who married Elizabeth 
of Bohemia and became king of that country. He was 
the perfect type of mediaeval chivalry. He went through 
Italy, Poland, France, and Germany as a knight errant, 
fighting for all good causes. Although he became blind, 
he assisted at the battle of Crecy (1346) and was killed 
in the ranks of the French army. His enemy, the Prince 
of Wales, full of admiration for his chivalrous and heroic 
behavior, adopted his motto: Ich dien ("I serve")? and 
that motto has remained that of the Prince of Wales to 
the present day. 

The county of Namur was far more receptive of the 
ideas of liberty and democracy than was Luxemburg. 
The Meuse and the Sambre flowed through its hills and 
fields; it possessed commercial roads and copper and iron 
mines. Here then we find commerce and industry. 
The craftsmen of Namur won, little by little and but very 
slowly, a certain share in the government of the cities, 
and after some serious troubles in 1351 the deans of the 
craft-guilds were admitted to public office together with 
the appointees of the Count and the patricians. 

There remains the county of Hainaut to be considered. 
From 1299 Hainaut and Holland, although situated far 
apart, were united under one dynasty, the family of 
the D'Avesnes. Holland was mainly inhabited by bur- 



POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES 69 

gesses and farmers; Hainaut was the last refuge of feudal- 
ism. The hills of the Ardennes, extending into the 
country, permitted small opportunity for agriculture: 
the rocks were crowned by castles, and the forests offered 
splendid hunting. There was no trade; the existing 
mines were abandoned. Of course there was the cloth 
industry at Mons, Ath, Binche, and Chievres. But the 
weavers did not possess the same spirit of freedom as their 
Flemish comrades. A timid attempt at revolt at Valen- 
ciennes was quickly repressed. Feudalism continued to 
prevail. The knights of Hainaut spent their time in 
fighting, especially during the reign of Count William 
(1337-45), who organized expeditions against the Prus- 
sians and the Moors. At length the noblemen of Hainaut 
were nearly all exterminated on the various battlefields 
of Europe, and the cities began to add to their importance. 
Count Albert of Bavaria, in the middle of the fourteenth 
century, favored manufactures, and granted control 
over the affairs of the cities to the craftsmen. 

On the whole, it was Flanders which played the largest 
part in the history of Belgium in the fourteenth century. 
The burgesses of Flanders had saved the country from 
French domination. But with the foe once defeated, 
they began to fight each other, and the main events in 
Flemish history at this time are bloody internal struggles 
and continuous revolts against the national princes. 
Ghent and Bruges, the two most powerful cities of the 
county, were continuously in disagreement, and even- 
tually took up arms against each other. Since the battle 
of the Golden Spurs Bruges had retained its democratic 
spirit and Ghent remained, as in the time of Philip the 
Fair, the bulwark and the refuge of the patricians. The 



70 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

craftsmen of Ghent did not succeed in overthrowing 
their enemies because they were themselves divided. 
The tyranny of the weavers was often opposed by the 
other guilds. 

It was a question of foreign policy, however, which 
finally subjected Flanders to a severe trial. In France 
the dynasty of the Capetians was extinct, and a new 
family, the Valois, ascended the throne. Edward III, 
King of England, claimed to have rights to the French 
crown and decided to inaugurate a war in order to enforce 
his demands. He sought allies on the Continent and 
succeeded in obtaining the support of Emperor Louis of 
Bavaria (1337), to whom he paid a large sum of English 
gold. 

What was to be the attitude of Flanders in the forth- 
coming conflict ? Count Louis of Flanders was a French 
sympathizer and took the side of King Philip of Valois. 
The Flemish cities, however, did not desire a rupture 
with England; their economic interest depended entirely 
on friendly relations with that country, owing to the fact 
that they needed English wool for their cloth industry. 

At this juncture appeared Jacques Van Artevelde, 
a man great in Belgian history. He was a member of 
one of the patrician families, wealthy, and much respected. 
In 1338 he became captain of the municipal army of 
Flanders and soon found himself even more powerful than 
the Count. When the English delegates, sent by Edward 
III to win Flanders to his cause, arrived in the country, 
they visited Artevelde as the real leader of public opinion. 

Although sympathetic to the English cause, Artevelde, 
partly fearing the resentment of the French King and 
partly wishing to prevent his country from becoming the 



POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES 71 

battlefield of the hostile armies, first tried the policy of 
neutrality. He confined himself to assuring England of 
his friendship, thinking that this would suffice to win for 
Flanders the commercial advantages it needed. 

Unfortunately, the conception of neutrality was pre- 
mature at this moment of Belgian history. The increasing 
pressure of Edward III on the one hand and the per- 
sistent distrust of France on the other convinced Arte- 
velde that he had to choose between the belligerents. 
That was a delicate and dangerous task, for the Flemings 
faced a conflict between their commercial interest and 
their duty toward their feudal lord, the King of France. 
Artevelde, "the wise man of Ghent," acted cleverly. 
On his suggestion, Edward III declared himself to be the 
true king of France, for he was the grandson of Philip the 
Fair through his mother, whereas Philip of Valois was 
only the nephew of the former ruler. The Flemings, 
easily convinced by these claims, put their scruples aside, 
and accepted the idea of the Anglo-Flemish alliance. 
The French fleet was destroyed by the English at L'Ecluse 
(1340), but Tournai was vainly besieged by the Anglo- 
Flemish forces. Artevelde became more and more the 
confidant of the English King, who called him "his 
fellow" and highly appreciated his shrewd diplomacy. 

The power of the "wise man of Ghent" soon aroused 
the jealousy of many, and was greatly endangered when 
the English King, annoyed by the reluctance of the 
Flemings to conclude with him a complete treaty of 
alliance, suddenly abandoned his claims and left his allies 
in the lurch. A sudden outburst of hostility put an end 
to Artevelde's career. His enemies informed the people 
that he had favored England too much, that he had given 



72 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

the treasure of Flanders to the English King, and that he 
intended to offer the crown to the Prince of Wales. Only 
the last charge was true. But the people, stirred up by 
demagogues who had planned the fall of the "wise man," 
believed what they were told. A furious mob attacked 
the house of Artevelde. While he was trying to persuade 
them that he was falsely accused, he was overpowered 
and ignominiously slain (1345). "The poor exalted him, 
the wicked killed him/' that is the epitaph written by 
Froissart, his political adversary, in honor of the greatest 
Fleming of all times. 

The assassination of Artevelde was followed a short 
time after by the death of his enemy, the Count of Flanders 
himself. Louis of Nevers fell among the French knights 
on the battlefield of Crecy, where the English King won 
a decisive victory. The new count, Louis of Male, was 
an enemy of democracy. He had to meet a serious revolt 
of the craftsmen of Ghent, under the leadership of Philip, 
the son of Artevelde. The son of the "wise man" had 
no particular military or political talents; his extraction 
alone had commended him to the restless people of Ghent. 
He tried to renew the alliance with England, but failed. 
A French army was sent to Flanders in order to assist 
the Count against his subjects. In the battle of Roose- 
beke, near Courtrai (1382), the Flemings were defeated 
and Philip Van Artevelde was killed. The whole of 
Flanders fell into the hands of the victors, except the 
commune of Ghent. That mighty city, thanks to the 
courage of Peter Vanden Bossche and his troops, resisted 
the kingdom of France for two years. 

Finally, Louis of Male, the last of the family of the 
Dampierre, died in 1384. His death opens the rule of 
the Burgundian dukes in the history of Flanders. 



POLITICS AND STRUGGLES OF THE COMMUNES 73 

The many years of internal struggle had seriously 
injured the prosperity of Flemish trade and industry. 
The finances of the communes were ruined; poverty was 
on the increase; the income from licenses had diminished; 
foreign merchants complained of the insecurity of their 
goods. Edward III invited many Flemish to emigrate 
to England, which they did, and the Flemish counts, by 
punishing the rebellious cities, had themselves cut off 
many sources of production and wealth. From 1350 
on, the German Hansa, whose members resided at Bruges, 
complained of the heavy taxes, and of the complete 
lack of peace and safety. In 1380 the Count banished 
the merchants, charging them with having plotted against 
his authority and with having assisted the Flemish rebels. 
This was a serious blow to the prosperity of the country. 
The Hansa left Bruges for Antwerp. Here began the 
decline and fall of the once famous seaport. 

If we look back at this stage of the political develop- 
ment of the Belgian principalities during the time of the 
communes we note a growing tendency to consolidation 
on the part of most of the duchies and counties. At the 
end of the fourteenth century, Flanders, Brabant, and 
Limburg were united under one dynasty; the same thing 
occurred in the case of Hainaut and Holland. Little by 
little the separation resulting from the treaty of Verdun 
in the ninth century had disappeared, and all parts of 
Belgium had gradually experienced the imperceptible 
drawing together which time had effected. They were 
ultimately to be united, as a political body, by the dukes 
of Burgundy. To explain that result is the task of the 
next chapter. 



CHAPTER V 

THE UNION OF THE BELGIAN PRINCIPALITIES 
UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 

At the very moment when all the Belgian principalities 
had won their complete political autonomy and rejected 
the French, the English, and the German influence, they 
were brought together under the scepter of one dynasty, 
and became united in a solid monarchic federation. As 
such, they constitute, between Germany and France, that 
buffer state represented on the map of Europe by the 
kingdoms of Belgium and Holland. The unconscious 
tendency of the preceding centuries was brought to a 
head in the fifteenth century by the dukes of Burgundy. 
They were aided in large part by the political circum- 
stances of the time. France was exhausted after the 
Hundred Years' War and Germany had lost the prestige 
and the strength of its monarchic power. In favoring the 
desire for a union of the Belgian principalities, the dukes 
saved Belgium from conquest or absorption by France. 
They continued and completed the work of the warriors 
of the battle of the Golden Spurs. The Scheldt was no 
longer a political barrier between the east and the west 
of the country. Belgium, as a united political body, was 
now for the first time a reality. 

The achievements of the Burgundian dukes may be 
considered from two points of view. We may consider 
the territorial and geographical consolidation and the 
political reform. 

74 



ml 






Lid 



THE NETHERLANDS 

UNDER 

THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 

M i6 -mi 






#*"ga 







UNION UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 75 

As for the territorial consolidation, there existed, at 
the end of the fourteenth century, three ruling houses in 
Belgium, each of them dominating many provinces, and 
each hoping to bring the whole country under its scepter. 
These houses were those of Luxemburg, Bavaria, and 
Burgundy. The house of Luxemburg had annexed to its 
hereditary duchy the duchies of Brabant and Limburg; 
that of Bavaria ruled Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland; 
that of Burgundy possessed the duchy of the same name 
with the counties of Flanders and Artois. It was the 
Duchess Jeanne of Brabant who turned the scale in 
favor of Burgundy. Although she had promised the 
duchy of Brabant to the house of Luxemburg, she gave it 
to her niece, wife of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy 
and Count of Flanders. So, in 1404, according to the 
testamentary devises of the late Jeanne of Brabant, 
Brabant and Limburg went to Antoine, youngest son of 
Philip the Bold, while to John without Fear, the eldest 
son, were given Flanders and Artois. There were thus 
a Flemish and a Brabantine branch of Burgundy. An- 
toine, Duke of Brabant, married Elizabeth of Gorlitz, 
heiress of the duchy of Luxemburg, and annexed that 
vast territory to his two other duchies (1409). His son 
John IV, by his marriage with Jacqueline of Bavaria, 
added to the duchies transmitted by his father the counties 
of Hainaut, Holland, Zeeland, and the seigneurie of 
Friesland. John IV was an insignificant prince. History 
remembers him for having, in 1425, founded the University 
of Louvain. His brother, Philip de Saint-Pol, died with- 
out issue, and thereupon the states of Brabant offered 
the possessions of the Brabantine branch of Burgundy 
to the head of the Flemish branch, Philip the Good, Count 



76 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

of Flanders (1430). As Philip the Good had purchased 
in 1429 the county of Namur, practically all the Belgian 
principalities came under the same rule. At this moment 
the unity of Belgium was born. Only the three ecclesiasti- 
cal principalities of Cambrai, Liege, and Utrecht failed to 
become united with the other provinces, and in these 
the Burgundian dukes exerted their influence by appoint- 
ing members of their family as bishops or by supporting 
candidates in th^ episcopal elections who were devoted 
to their interests. 

Philip the Good, whom the historian Juste Lipse 
called, in the seventeenth century, conditor Belgii ("the 
founder of Belgium"), was known in his own times as the 
Grand Duke of the West. The fame of his power was 
carried to the Mediterranean, where his vessels fought the 
Turkish pirates. He lacked only the title of king. He 
instituted negotiations with the Emperor for restoring in 
his favor the former kingdom of Lotharingia. These nego- 
tiations did not succeed because he refused to pay to 
Frederick III, the German Emperor, the sum the latter 
demanded, and to give the oath of allegiance and vassal- 
age for those parts of his possessions which were fiefs 
of the Empire. He boasted to an envoy of Louis XI, 
King of France, that "he wanted them to know he could 
have been king, if he had only willed it." 

His work was nearly destroyed by the extravagant 
plans and the ambition of his son, Charles the Bold, who 
succeeded him in 1467. The reign of Charles was domi- 
nated by the struggle with the shrewd King of France, 
Louis XL This king watched with anxiety the increas- 
ing power of one of his vassals, and tried to circumvent 
his plans in alLpossible ; ,ways. The schemes of Charles 



UNION UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 77 

the Bold were fantastically extensive, and the historian 
Philip de Comines said of him: "He tried so many things 
that he could not live long enough to carry them out, 
and they were indeed almost impossible enterprises/ ' 

As the house of Burgundy tried to dominate the 
principality of Liege, Charles followed that policy by 
imposing upon the citizens of Liege the candidacy of 
Louis of Bourbon as bishop-prince. The people of the 
principality, stirred up by the French King, rose against 
the mighty duke. They paid a heavy price. In 1466 
the town of Dinant was sacked by the troups of Charles 
the Bold, and in 1468 Liege shared the same fate. Un- 
speakable atrocities were committed by the Burgundian 
army, and fire and sword nearly decimated the populace. 
These disasters placed the principality for at least ten 
years under the domination of Charles. 

The states of the Burgundian dukes were composed 
of two sections, separated from each other by inde- 
pendent principalities. In the south, they possessed the 
duchy of Burgundy and the county of the same name, 
also called Franche-Comte; in the north, Belgium and a 
large part of the Dutch provinces were in their hands. 
From 1469 on, Charles tried patiently but relentlessly 
to bring together both parts of his state. He took 
Lorraine by force and got in engagere Alsace, Brisgau, and 
other minor principalities. In the north he succeeded, 
in 1472, in winning, by the testament of the late Arnold 
of Gueldre, the duchy of that name and the county of 
Zutphen. 

Adopting the plan which his father had devised, but 
enlarging it considerably, he began negotiations with the 
Emperor for the reconstitution of the former mediaeval 



78 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

kingdom of Burgundy, and for his appointment as King of 
the Romans and successor to the Empire. He failed 
where Philip the Good had failed. 

He intended next to conquer the country of his enemy, 
Louis XI. After the conquest he planned to divide 
France between himself and his brother-in-law, Edward 
of England. In order to avoid the danger, the French 
King cleverly entangled his vassal in a war with the Swiss. 
Charles fought the battle of Nancy under very unfavor- 
able circumstances. His army was severely defeated and 
he himself killed. His body was discovered in the ice of 
a frozen pool, pierced by three deadly wounds and half 
devoured by wolves. 

His young daughter Mary took on her shoulders the 
heavy burden entailed upon her as his successor. 

The territorial federation of all the Belgian princi- 
palities by the Burgundian dukes involved as a conse- 
quence the political unification of these provinces. 
Having but one prince, they also had but one govern- 
ment. It was necessary, of course, that the individual 
institutions of each principality should disappear, and 
the political life of the country was subjected to the 
centralizing tendency of a common monarchy. Above 
the local institutions were established central institutions, 
common to all the territories: the council of the duke, 
an advisory body; the chancellor of Burgundy, a kind 
of prime minister; the Grand Council, a governmental 
body, which Charles the Bold, more autocratic than his 
father, divided into two new colleges, with distinct 
functions — the Council of State, a political college, and 
the Parliament of Malines, a supreme court of justice 
(1473). 



UNION UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 79 

Such a centralization of the national institutions was 
quite necessary if the danger of being dominated by 
France was to be avoided. France was rapidly becoming 
united under the leadership of its kings, who possessed a 
permanent army, the right to impose a perpetual taille, 
and the exercise of sovereign justice. In the face of this 
united and powerful monarchy, the Burgundian state 
could not remain separated. The Belgian provinces could 
no longer remain isolated from each other and limit 
themselves to an individualistic and egotistic policy. 
It was seen that everything ought to be concentrated in 
the hands of a strong prince. That was the new idea 
that was introduced into the constitution of the Belgian 
principalities, an idea that had never appeared prior to 
the fifteenth century. Throughout the Middle Ages the 
antiquated idea of the state as a collective person distinct 
from its members never clearly appears. The concept 
of sovereignty — absolute power subject to no control — 
was also lacking. The individual life dominated the life 
of the community. Little by little the renascence of the 
study of Roman law introduced other concepts, namely, 
those of state and sovereignty. The students of Roman 
law, the "legists," stood for a government that would be 
one, indivisible, strong, absolute, and active. They be- 
lieved that all that tended to limit the complete exercise 
of public authority should be discarded: the state was 
held to be impersonal and almighty. That new concept of 
the state was embodied in the politics of the Burgundian 
dukes during the fifteenth century. Centralization and 
the absolute power of the prince took the place of the 
former personal and collective privileges. This idea 
triumphed, not only because the Burgundian dukes were 



80 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

strong, but also because it was in accordance with the 
needs of the time and the wishes of the majority of the 
people. 

Of course, the dukes, when they tried to realize their 
political centralization, met with some resistance on the 
part of the powerful communes. But Philip the Good 
cleverly avoided any open fight. He simply tried to 
subject the cities to his control — to prevent them from 
being a state within the state. He took part in the 
appointment of the magistrates, ordered their accounts 
to be examined by his officers, forbade advantage to be 
taken of the small cities and the peasantry, and made 
the judgments of their tribunals subject to review by his 
own councils of justice. Flanders endeavored to evade 
the results of that policy. There were serious revolts 
in Bruges (1436-47) and in Ghent (1450-53), and the 
cities of Brabant, particularly Malines, seemed unwilling 
to adapt themselves to the new situation. 

All this local resistance was ruthlessly broken by 
Charles the Bold when he became duke. The autonomy 
of the cities was completely disregarded, the traditions 
were changed without consideration, the privileges re- 
mained unrecognized. Charles kept the appointment of 
all the municipal charges in his own hands. The omnip- 
otence of the sovereign was, according to him, the only 
warrant for order and justice, such as he himself desired 
for his possessions. 

Political centralization would, however, never have 
been achieved by the dukes if they had not enjoyed the 
support of certain classes of the people. They had, 
indeed, the help of the noblemen, who were despised 
and ignored by the communes, and were therefore ready 



UNION UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 81 

to help all the enemies of the cities. Moreover, the 
dukes succeeded in destroying the feudal character of the 
nobility, in softening it, and in converting it into a body 
of courtiers. They attracted the noblemen by making 
them royal allowances, by granting them gifts of land or 
monejr, offices at court, etc. A golden chain soon bound 
all the feudalists, once so independent; and life at court 
soon robbed them of their former spirit of freedom. 
Before long, the favor of the prince constituted the only 
chance of success in political and social life. In order to 
keep the nobles loyal to his person, Philip the Good 
founded at Bruges, in 1480, the famous and privileged 
order of the Golden Fleece. 

Only the Burgundian and Picardian nobles, however, 
w r ere to be found at court, occupying the public offices, 
and entirely submissive to their sovereign. The Belgian 
nobles could not forget that the rights of the prince, 
according to national tradition, were not without limits; 
they desired a guaranty against the dangers of personal 
government. They desired a government in which the 
duke would not be able to declare war without the consent 
of the states, in which he would regulate his expenses in 
accordance with the income of his domain, and in which 
he would act only after having taken the advice of his 
council. 

The dukes were also supported in their efforts to- 
ward centralization by the clergy. Philip the Good had 
abolished exemption from taxation till that time enjoyed 
by the clergy, asserting that the common law was opposed 
to such privileges. Following the example of the King 
of France, the Duke limited the temporal power of the 
clergy, narrowed their jurisdiction, and imposed upon the 



82 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

church his candidates for bishoprics and monasteries. 
On the other hand, the Duke extended the political power 
of the clergy, giving them the first place in the States- 
General and in the councils. The States-General was a 
new institution, also introduced by the Burgundian dukes. 
Before the existence of the States-General, the prince 
was compelled, whenever a levy of taxes was desired, to 
deliberate separately with the delegates of each Belgian 
province and to obtain their consent. Philip the Good 
thought it more expedient to gather them all together in 
his presence at the same time. That meeting was called 
the meeting of the States-General. As the States-General 
did not meet except at the express order of the sovereign, 
and for his own advantage, this institution served as an 
instrument for weakening provincial individualism and 
strengthening the central government. 

In the States-General the clergy were granted the first 
place; they, as well as the nobles, therefore became sup- 
porters of the policy of the dukes. By such methods, 
by persuasion, by distribution of money, and even by vio- 
lence, the Burgundian dukes succeeded in transforming the 
institutions of the Belgian principalities into a monar- 
chical rule. 

Most of the new institutions were modeled after those 
existing in France, but adapted to the local situation and 
needs of Belgium. No principality lost its own autonomy, 
its own constitution, or its privileges. The Burgundian 
state was an agglomeration of states, a juxtaposition of 
territories. There was no universal power; the dukes 
were not " princes of Belgium" or " princes of the Nether- 
lands"; they ruled every principality separately and 
were dukes of Brabant, counts of Flanders, dukes of 




THE MASTERPIECE OF MATHIEU DE LAYENS: TOWN HALL 

OF LOUVAIN 

(It escaped destruction during the conflagration of August 26, 1914) 



UNION UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 83 

Luxemburg, counts of Hainaut, Namur, etc. But their 
power was as vast as their wealth. When Philip the Good 
died in 1467, he left a personal fortune whose annual 
income nearly equaled that of the republic of Venice and 
was as much as four times that of the republic of Florence, 
three times that of the King of Naples, twice that of the 
Pope and of the Duke of Milan. No wonder that he 
was called "the Grand Duke of the West." 

What about the Belgian civilization in the time of the 
Burgundian dukes ? 

We know that, toward the end of the fourteenth 
century, Flanders suffered a decline after the bloody 
civil war: the German merchants left Bruges, Ghent lost 
a part of its population, Ypres was half destroyed, 
Ostend became a sandy waste. The " polders" were 
inundated; wolves and wild boars infested the country. 

Fifty years later, during the reign of the Burgundian 
dukes, Belgium had again become the richest country 
in Europe. That revival was, of course, not attributable 
to the dukes alone. It must be remembered that the 
Belgians are an industrious people and that the geograph- 
ical position of the country is highly favorable. But 
the political union of all the provinces, peace, and a good 
administration contributed largely to the revival of the 
nation. The political work of the Burgundian dukes 
brought about the unification of coinage, the free relations 
between the different principalities, the order and safety 
necessary for the development of trade and industry. 
From an economic point of view, the dukes endeavored 
to conserve and to enlarge the resources of the country. 
They took prohibitive measures against the English cloth 
industry in favor of the Flemish manufacture. Charles 



84 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

the Bold endeavored to dredge the sand out of the harbor 
of Bruges and to save that city from disaster. In the 
fifteenth century Antwerp, supported by the dukes, 
became the largest market of the north. In Luxemburg 
the gold and silver mines began to be operated, employing 
the mine-workers of the region of Liege. 

Although the economic policy of the dukes may be 
described as still somewhat incoherent, it may yet be 
said to have embraced excellent principles. A declara- 
tion is preserved to the effect that "one of the main 
points of all good policy, upon which the public welfare is 
based, is to get and to keep good and lasting money, as 
well golden as silver coin." 

Notwithstanding these principles and the various 
measures taken for the protection of trade, a crisis in the 
cloth industry was soon apparent. This was due to the 
transformation in the wool trade. Bruges was the big 
wool market of the Continent, but, since the development 
of the English cloth industry, the English producers had 
kept the raw material at home, thereby diminishing the 
stock of wool in Flanders. The price had greatly in- 
creased, and Flemish manufacturers were obliged to 
use Spanish wool of inferior quality. This, of course, 
spelled the decline of the Belgian cloth industry. The 
decline of Louvain's prosperity was somewhat mitigated 
by the foundation there of the University in 1425. 
Nothing, however, could save Ypres. Its craftsmen, 
threatened with starvation, migrated to England; houses 
were abandoned and fell into ruin; in 1456 a third of the 
population was begging for bread along the roads. 

Other parts of the country were less affected by the 
crisis in the cloth industry. Ghent had its grain staple; 



UNION UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 85 

Brussels, where the dukes resided, imported articles of 
luxury; Malines had its Parliament; Antwerp took 
the place of Bruges as a seaport. Since 1442, English 
merchants had settled in Antwerp, and this meant the 
end of Bruges and of the part played by Flanders in the 
economic life of Belgium. It was now the turn of Brabant. 
At the same time, a new industry was being introduced 
into Flanders and Brabant, the technical features of 
which were much the same as those of the cloth industry. 
Wool was replaced by flax, and instead of cloth manu- 
facture we hear next of the linen industry. As manu- 
facture on a large scale, mediaeval in its forms and 
restrictive and exclusive in its spirit of corporation, could 
no longer support itself, the new linen industry soon came 
to be carried on in the homes of the operatives, mainly in 
the country. Driven out of Flanders by circumstances, 
the cloth industry now sought to prolong its life in a little 
town of the Ardennes — Verviers, near Liege (1480). 

The conditions of trade likewise experienced decline 
and revival at the same time. In this particular the 
outstanding feature is the decline of Bruges. As is well 
known, credit operations on a large scale sometimes 
bring about big bankruptcies. Until the death of Charles 
the Bold (1477), Bruges remained the financial and 
banking center of Europe. It was filled with Italian 
bankers, among them agents of the Medici, the Portinari, 
and the Guidetti. A large number of foreign merchants 
resided at Bruges, grouped in colonies known as "nations." 
Among them were the " nations" of Florence, of Spain, 
and of the Osterlings. In 1457 the shipping in the harbor 
was represented by three vessels from Venice, one from 
Portugal, two from Spain, six from Scotland, forty-two 



86 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

from Bretagne, twelve from Hamburg, four whale-boats, 
and thirty-six to forty fishing smacks. The vessels 
came mainly from Spain and Portugal. They brought 
merchandise hitherto unknown to the people of Belgium: 
oranges, lemons, rose-water, candy, jam, oriental tapestry, 
etc. From the Portuguese warehouses in Africa came 
monkeys, lions, parrots. 

In the course of tKe fifteenth century, however, for 
reasons already indicated, the merchants of the German 
Hansa left Bruges. As a result of the fall of the Flemish 
cloth industry and the prohibitive measures taken against 
England in favor of Flanders, the shipping company of 
the English Merchant Adventurers sent large numbers to 
settle at Antwerp in 1442-44. They were joined by the 
Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese merchants. The bankers 
soon followed. At the end of the fifteenth century the 
glorious old Flemish city showed 4,000 to 5,000 empty 
houses. From then on it became known as " Bruges la 
morte." Its rival, Antwerp, had become the center of the 
cloth-weaving industry. 

The inundations in Zeeland at the beginning of the 
fifteenth century had considerably enlarged the western 
Scheldt and afforded a direct route to the sea. Taking 
advantage of this circumstance, Antwerp, from the very 
beginning, showed a highly modern and liberal spirit. 
It reduced the taxes on foreign merchants, whereas 
Bruges, in order to save the situation, maintained its 
restrictive and drastic legislation and tried to uphold its 
economic privileges and its highly protectionist measures. 
Moreover, Antwerp did not share the revolutionary spirit 
of the Flemish communes. There were no bloody 
struggles against the dukes, and there was the best of 
understanding with the central power. 



UNION UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 87 

The new spirit of Antwerp is shown in its commer- 
cial organization. There were two fairs yearly, held on 
the principle of commercial liberty. Those visiting the 
fairs were protected by a special passport. Whereas a 
monopoly existed in the professions of broker and money- 
changer in Bruges, at Antwerp they were open to all. 
The right of citizenship was easily acquired. In 1460, 
Antwerp established the first exchange that existed in 
Europe. At the end of the fifteenth century the city had 
become the great commercial center of the north. But, as 
earlier in the case of Bruges, the more important com- 
merce was in the hands of foreigners. The people of 
Antwerp were but auxiliaries and intermediaries, brokers, 
forwarding agents, charterers of vessels, etc. The same 
phenomenon is observable in the Antwerp of today. 

On the other hand, the political and economic trans- 
formations which resulted in such crises in city life proved 
advantageous for the peasantry, for the people of the 
countryside. The decline of the tyranny of the big cities 
tended to bring to the peasant more and more of freedom. 
He was now free to engage in industry at home and to 
become a paid workman in the service of the capitalist. 
The old restrictions of the feudal law and the law of the 
manor were gone. 

Even in the realm of charity the changing order was 
manifest. It was now taken in hand by the state. 
Special ordinances against beggars were issued in 1461 
for Flanders and Brabant. Heretofore, the beggar had 
been abandoned to the tender mercies of the church and of 
private charity. Thenceforth he was taken in hand by 
the government. The state refused to encourage beggars; 
it controlled them and forced them to work. A special 
license for begging was granted to children under twelve 



88 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

years and to persons over sixty years, and to mothers with 
numerous children and without work. Those found beg- 
ging without a license were imprisoned. The institutions 
for charity, heretofore exclusively religious, were taken 
over by the local governments. Boards of trustees were 
appointed by the municipalities and the finances were 
controlled by the echevins. 

As for literary and artistic conditions in the Bur- 
gundian period, it is to be noted that French influence 
gradually disappeared after the battle of the Golden 
Spurs. French of course remained the language of the 
court, of the nobility, of the wealthy citizens. French, 
together with Latin, also remained as the language of 
diplomacy. But it made no more gains. At this time 
Flemish began to take its place in civic life. As a result 
of the victory of democracy in most of the cities, Flemish 
became the language of the administration and was used 
for the registration of real estate and for accounts. 
Through existing relations with the merchants of the 
Hansa it became also the language of commercial affairs. 
Primary schools were established in all the cities, and 
instruction was given in the language of the people. The 
literary works of Van Maerlandt, whose influence has 
already been described, came freely into the possession 
of, and were read by, the humblest craftsmen. 

When Charles the Bold tried to impose French as the 
only official language, vigorous discontent was the result, 
and in 1477 the so-called " Grand Privilege" of Mary of 
Burgundy resulted in the re-establishment of Flemish. 
The knowledge of Flemish also spread through the Walloon 
country. Walloon merchants settled in Antwerp and 
Flemish merchants went to Namur and Dinant. 



UNION UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 89 

Under these favorable conditions, Flemish literature 
developed rapidly; but the development mainly affected 
Brabant. Brabant now took the place formerly occupied 
by Flanders. The Brabantine dialect, instead of the 
Flemish one, soon became dominant in literature. One of 
the best writers of this time was Jan Boendale (f 1365), 
the famous author of the Brabantsche Yeesten (" Deeds of 
Brabant")- Boendale was serious and practical, and 
had no sympathy for France, like Van Maerlandt. He 
was an enemy both of the democracy and of the nobility; 
the merchants and the peasants were the classes with 
which he showed the most sympathy. Another Flemish 
author of great fame was Jan Van Ruysbroeck (fl381), 
also a native of Brabant. He was the herald of mysticism 
and of divine love, and occupies the first rank among all 
the religious writers of the Middle Ages. He wrote in a 
wonderful prose and surpassed everyone in inspiration of 
thought. The Flemish literature owes also much to 
another mystic, Gerard de Groote (fl384), of Deventer, 
founder of the " Brethren of Common Life." The mem- 
bers of that community issued a large number of religious 
tracts, all of them written in Flemish. They founded 
excellent schools, where instruction was given by teachers 
from the University of Paris, and they were the first to 
introduce the art of printing into the Netherlands. The 
most famous printer of the Netherlands, Thierry Mar- 
tens, of Alost, was one of their pupils. Wherever they 
founded communities and schools they introduced the 
art of printing, e.g., in Alost, Bruges, Brussels, De- 
venter, Gouda, Louvain, and Utrecht. 

As for French literature in Belgium during the Bur- 
gundian period, its output was mainly devoted to the 



90 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

aristocracy, and consisted chiefly of historical material. 
The names of the historians Jean le Bel, Jean Froissart, 
Monstrelet, and Chastelain are well known. Froissart was 
a cosmopolitan writer, and most of the historians of this 
school showed only a dynastic learning. Therewas no ques- 
tion of patriotism. They praised the Burgundian dukes 
because these dukes were their protectors and benefactors. 

Artistic life, on the other hand, was not divided into 
two separate currents, as was the literary life. In matters 
of art, Flemish and Walloon collaborated during the 
fifteenth century and together produced a real Belgian 
art. The masters of this period were the Flemings Jan 
and Hubert Van Eyck and the Walloon Roger de la 
Pasture or Van der Weyden. 

Since the end of the thirteenth century Belgian art had 
become completely original. It was the wealth of city 
life that rendered that phenomenon possible. The wealth 
of the burgesses served to found many art industries. 
Sculpture, painting, and the goldsmith's art were no 
longer exclusively religious; they became more and more 
secular. The erection of large churches ceased. Painters 
were busy decorating guild halls and city halls, banners 
and tents, and painting for craft guilds and for dramatic 
societies. The oldest products of Belgian art are to be 
found in sculpture, especially monuments in stone or 
yellow copper. The cleverness of technique and the 
realism of outline compel admiration. The artists 
copied with exactness what they noted in their sur- 
roundings. For the stiff meagerness of the Gothic 
style they substituted a more rounded form, and pro- 
duced a truer art as a result. One of the most 
famous sculptors of this period was Claus Sluter, native 



UNION UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 91 

of Zeeland, creator of the celebrated sculptures of Dijon. 
Those masterpieces, made when Ghiberti and Donatello 
flourished in Italy, enable the Netherlands to share with 
that country the first place in art of this period. 

The painters forsook more slowly than did the sculptors 
the traditions of the preceding period, but during the 
period of the Burgundian dukes they made rapid strides. 
The painters are to be found among the Flemings and the 
Walloons; they were not influenced by the foreign schools, 
and they dwelt in the cities of Flanders and Brabant, 
where the presence of wealthy merchants and the residence 
of the court afforded them the opportunities for the 
exercise of their art. Hubert Van Eyck, of Limburg, 
came to Ghent about 1430; his brother Jan settled in 
Bruges in 1425; Roger Van der Weyden left Tournai 
and located in Brussels in 1435. Other famous names 
are those of Peter Christus, of Brabant; Simon Mar- 
mion, of Valenciennes; Juste Van Wassenhove, of Ghent; 
Hugo Van der Goes, of Ghent; Thierry Bouts, of Haer- 
lem; and the anonymous " Master of Flemalle." This 
is a period in which art and craftsmanship meant quite 
different things; the personality of the painter was now 
in free course of development. 

Music also now began to be recognized as the expression 
of the genius of both Belgian races, although musicians 
were chiefly found among the Walloons, whereas the 
painters were mainly Flemings. The names of the 
musicians Jan Ockeghem (1494-96), a Fleming, and 
Josquin des Pres (1450), a Walloon, may be mentioned as 
having substituted the choir with many voices for the 
choir with one voice, and as having introduced counter- 
point in musical composition. Architecture now came to 



92 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

be regarded as of less importance than sculpture. Its 
tendency was to a profusion of ornaments; the simplicity 
of lines and the severe majesty of the Gothic style of the 
thirteenth century disappeared. The prominence * of 
sculptural decoration was especially noticeable in the city 
halls of Brussels and Louvain (1444-48), the latter 
the masterpiece of Mathieu de Layens and one of the 
richest examples of sculpture in the fifteenth century. 
Louvain was fortunate also in possessing its no less 
famous university (1425). That seat of learning was 
founded at the request of Duke John IV of Brabant, by 
Pope Martin V. The faculty of theology was added to 
the three other faculties (arts, law, and medicine) by 
Pope Eugen IV in 1432. During the first quarter of the 
sixteenth century the University of Louvain played an 
unparalleled part in the intellectual life of Belgium. 

Such was the splendid achievement of Belgian culture 
in the times of the Burgundian dukes. The untimely 
death of Charles the Bold on the battlefield of Nancy 
threatened ruin to the marvelous results of their policy. 
The news of his death was scarcely made public when the 
strong Burgundian state he dreamed of collapsed. Lor- 
raine, Alsace, and the neighboring countries regained their 
independence, Liege threw off the yoke, and the shrewd 
Louis XI, notwithstanding the treaties, annexed the 
cities of the Somme and of Picardy to France, conquered 
Artois, and took possession of the duchy of Burgundy and 
of the Franche-Comte. 

This was a disastrous beginning for the young daughter 
of Charles the Bold, Mary of Burgundy. It was neces- 
sary that she be married and so obtain a protector as 
promptly as possible. The States-General accepted the 



UNION UNDER THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY 93 

candidacy of Maximilian of Hapsburg, son of the Em- 
peror Frederick III of Germany. That marriage laid 
the foundation for the European supremacy of the house 
of Hapsburg, and gave to Belgium a dynasty which re- 
mained in power until the French Revolution. 

Prior to the marriage of Mary, the States-General had 
taken advantage of the disastrous situation in which 
the young princess found herself, and wrested from her 
the so-called " Grand Privilege" (February 11, 1477), 
whereby the Parliament of Malines was abolished and a 
" Grand Council" was established, with limited power and 
including representatives of all the Belgian provinces. 
At the same time, each principality succeeded in obtain- 
ing collective provincial privileges. Thus most of the 
new institutions and rules introduced by the Burgundian 
dukes were abolished, and the former privileges of the 
communes were again recognized. After the death of 
Princess Mary (1482), the reaction of the communes 
became even more violent. A son named Philip had been 
born to Mary and Maximilian; history knows him as 
Philip the Fair. The Belgians immediately recognized 
the infant archduke, but they continued the fight against 
his father Maximilian. After a bloody struggle in which 
both France (assisting Flanders) and Germany (assisting 
Maximilian) interfered, victory remained in the hands of 
theHapsburgs (1492). 

The resistance of the Flemish communes to autocracy 
and centralization was henceforth shattered. Broken 
and impoverished, they no longer questioned the authority 
of the prince. Philip the Fair and Charles V continued 
at peace and achieved the work of monarchic centraliza- 
tion initiated by the Burgundian dukes. 



CHAPTER VI 

BELGIUM UNDER CHARLES V (1506-55) AND THE 
BEGINNINGS OF THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG 

Philip the Fair was made duke and count of the dif- 
ferent Belgian principalities in 1494. Meanwhile the 
international situation in Europe had become dangerous 
for Spain and the Empire. Charles VIII of France had 
conquered the countries of Milan and Naples. The 
Hapsburgs and the King of Spain, threatened by the 
common danger, united against the policy of France and 
strengthened the coalition by the marriage of Don Juan, 
heir to the Spanish throne, to the daughter of Maximilian 
of Hapsburg, and the union of the latter's son, Philip 
the Fair, with the Spanish infanta, Jeanne. As all the 
heirs to the Spanish throne died in a short space of time, 
Jeanne inherited all the rights, and Philip the Fair, sover- 
eign of the Netherlands, became King of Spain. 

This event proved of the utmost importance in the 
history of Belgium. Although regarded as a separate 
territory, the Netherlands — both Belgium and Holland — 
became a mere annex of the Spanish branch of the Haps- 
burg monarchy. For more than two centuries Belgium 
was ruled from Madrid by sovereigns who were first of 
all kings of Spain. 

This was not yet, however, the case in the time of 
Charles V, the great emperor of the sixteenth century. 
Archduke Charles, son of Philip the Fair, known as Charles 
V at the time of his accession as Emperor in 1519, assumed 
control of the Netherlands in 1515. The latter included 

94 



CHARLES V AND THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG 95 

Belgium and Holland, in addition to the county of Artois, 
and was commonly spoken of as the Seventeen Provinces. 
The following year (1516) Charles also became King of 
Spain. His reign was occupied by protracted wars with 
France, constituting a continuous strife with the powerful 
sovereign for the hegemony of Europe. In the course of 
this struggle the Netherlands were continually attacked 
by Francis I, the French King, and his allies, the Duke 
of Gueldre, and the La Marcks, Lords of Sedan and Bouil- 
lon. The advantage was always with Charles, however, 
and he was thus enabled to continue the territorial con- 
centration of all the provinces of the Netherlands which 
was begun by the dukes of Burgundy. 

Peacefully or by force, Charles successively annexed 
East Friesland, Tournai and Tournaisis, the Overyssel, 
Groninge and Ommelanden, Gueldre and Zutphen to 
his domains. In the ecclesiastical principalities, which 
the Burgundian dukes had never been able to annex but 
only to control, Charles succeeded in winning the temporal 
power in the bishopric of Utrecht; destroyed Terouanne, 
the seat of the bishopric of the same name; erected Cam- 
brai and Cambresis into a duchy in favor of the bishop; 
and purchased part of the principality of Liege, where 
he built strong fortresses. 

After these achievements, Charles V could call himself 
the mightiest sovereign in Europe. But a very intricate 
question yet remained to be settled, namely, what the 
political relation of the Netherlands should be toward 
the Empire. The feudal tie between the Empire and the 
provinces, called into existence while Lotharingia was 
yet a fief, had never, theoretically at least, been broken; 
and at the beginning of the sixteenth century Germany 



96 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

still affected to recognize the union (the feudal vassalage) 
of the provinces with the Empire, in order that they 
might be the more easily compelled to share in the 
heavy financial burdens of the latter. The Nether- 
lands, on the other hand, maintained that the union no 
longer existed. The question was a difficult one for 
Charles, he being at the same time German Emperor and 
sovereign of the Netherlands. It took him twenty-five 
years of negotiations. In 1548, after his victory over 
the princes of the Protestant League at Schmalkalden, 
he settled the question by the celebrated Augsburg 
transaction. 

By this provisional arrangement the Empire was 
divided into " circles. " The episcopal duchy of Cambrai, 
Liege, and the small principality of Stavelot-Malmedy 
became a part of the so-called circle of Westphalia; the 
Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands and the Franche- 
Comte constituted a new circle, called the " circle of 
Bourgogne." These states were placed under the armed 
protection of the Empire, which undertook to defend 
them as members of the whole. They were recognized, 
however, as independent and free states, not subject to 
the laws of the Empire. At the same time, fearing that, 
through the application of the varying rules of succession 
existing in each Belgian principality, the union might 
some day become imperiled, Charles V, by a special act, 
ordained that the Netherlands or Seventeen Provinces 
should forever be considered an indivisible whole, in 
which the first-born son should be regarded as the heir 
to the throne. In case of deficiency of a male heir, how- 
ever, the female heir was to be recognized in the succes- 
sion. This was really a constitutional law sanctioned by 



CHARLES V AND THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG 97 

the States-General, officially gathered in solemn meeting 
in Brussels in 1549. The early work of the dukes of 
Burgundy was now completed and firmly established. 

Another task of tremendous importance now engaged 
the attention of Charles. This was the fight against 
heresy. The new difficulty presented an entirely novel 
problem. 

When, by the revolt of Luther against the Roman 
Catholic church, Protestantism began rapidly to spread 
all over Europe, it quickly found a follower in the Nether- 
lands, whose location facilitated its expansion. In virtue 
of their historical development, the Netherlands are an 
essentially Catholic state. Charles V and Philip II, as 
sovereigns of that state, considered themselves the 
defenders of orthodoxy, religious unity, and the union 
of church and state. In opposing what they considered 
to be a political as well as a religious crime, they invoked 
the penal laws and criminal institutions as their weapons 
against what they regarded as a revolutionary movement. 

The famous placarts, or penal laws, enacted under 
Charles V to the number of a dozen between 1520 and 
1530, were complementary to each other. They were 
all the work of the government and were approved by the 
States-General, the prominent members of the military 
aristocracy, and the knights of the Golden Fleece. They 
were preventive and repressive at the same time. From 
a repressive point of view, they distinguished between 
the crime of heresy and the simple offense against the 
prescriptions of the placarts. 

The crime of heresy could be committed only by a man 
who had been baptized, who from the point of view of the 
Catholic faith was guilty of error, and who obstinately 



98 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

persisted in that error after having been warned and 
enlightened. Obstinacy in error was the main point. If 
there was no obstinacy, but retraction of the error, there 
was no more crime; there remained only a sin. On the 
other hand, a simple offense against the placarts might 
be committed by anyone, be he a Catholic, a Jew, or a 
heretic. Such offenses might be committed, for instance, 
by acts, such as the circulation of heretic books and 
pamphlets, by sheltering meetings of heretics, etc. 

The crime of heresy was to be judged by an ecclesias- 
tical judge, the only one able to discuss those matters. 
The offense against the placarts was to be dealt with 
by a secular judge, a layman. The jurisdiction of the 
ecclesiastical judge was limited by strict rules. He 
might not impose a penalty prescribed by the placarts, 
or any penalty involving the shedding of blood. If the 
heretic remained obstinate, he was to be expelled from 
the church and given over to the lay judge, who alone 
might impose the penalty prescribed by the placarts. 

The latter penalties were simple and drastic: death 
by fire, by sword, or by burial alive, and the confiscation 
of property. The system inaugurated by Charles was 
anti-judicial and cruel. It was anti-judicial, inasmuch as 
the penalties were applied both to heretics and to simple 
offenders against the placarts, and thus provided similar 
punishment for offenses whose intrinsic criminality was 
wholly different. It must not, however, be forgotten 
that in the sixteenth century the object of every penal 
law was to instil terror first of all, and that those guilty 
of heresy were considered as seditious persons, disturbers 
of the state, and consequently to be punished by the 
severe penalties applicable to acts of lese-majeste. 



CHARLES V AND THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG 99 

Special officers were appointed for enforcing the 
placarts. These were the so-called " Apostolic Inquisi- 
tors" whom Charles V requested the Pope to appoint in 
1524. They were only ecclesiastical judges, receiving 
their instructions directly from the Holy See. Their 
mission consisted in discovering the heretics, in reconciling 
them with the church, and in imposing only a canon or 
ecclesiastical penalty. If the heretic remained obstinate, 
they were obliged to turn him over to the lay judge. For 
the first time, in 1546, they received detailed instructions 
from the Emperor and after that were considered as 
agents of the state. 

Another measure designed to prevent the spread of 
heresy was the establishment of the new dioceses, but as 
this was undertaken by Philip II we shall deal with it 
in another chapter. It remains only to add that through- 
out the reign of Charles V the system of the placarts met 
with no opposition. JThe Emperor was a Fleming, he 
was born at Ghent, he knew his people, and the people 
accepted from him what they would not accept from his 
son Philip some years later. 

Owing to these circumstances, Charles V was able to 
complete the work of the Burgundian dukes in another 
direction, namely, the monarchic centralization of the 
Belgian provinces. The numerous wars waged by him 
involved expenses, and, under the rights theretofore 
granted the country, he was obliged to obtain the consent 
of the States-General, called together for the purpose, 
whenever he required the financial assistance of his sub- 
jects. In granting the subsidies, the States-General 
invariably seized on the occasion for exacting some privi- 
lege or concession in return. In order to free himself of 



100 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

this restraint, the Emperor sought to introduce two inno- 
vations, which, in France, had practically destroyed the 
power of the States-General, namely, the permanent 
impost and the permanent army. To his sister, Mary of 
Hungary, who in his name governed the Netherlands, he 
intrusted the proposal of a clever scheme. All the 
provinces of the Netherlands were to form a defensive 
union or confederation, in order to be ready to repel the 
attacks from foreign princes. Should a province be 
attacked, all the other provinces were immediately to 
join in assisting it from a military and financial point 
of view. Such common action would involve the exist- 
ence of a permanent army and the introduction of a 
permanent tax. 

When the proposal was laid before them, the States- 
General immediately discovered the trap. Some of them 
even dared to remark that they did not want to be treated 
a la mode de France. The scheme was unequivocally 
rejected. The Emperor was obliged to yield. He was 
far too diplomatic openly and brutally to oppose the 
privileges of his subjects. 

In 1555 he abdicated and went to pass the rest of his 
life in the Spanish monastery of Saint Just. His son, 
Philip II of Spain, succeeded him as sovereign of the 
Netherlands. 



CHAPTER VII 

PHILIP II AND THE REVOLT OF THE NETHER- 
LANDS AGAINST SPANISH RULE (1555-96) 

The revolt of the Netherlands against Spain is not 
merely an event of local Belgian history; it belongs to 
the political history of Europe. It is an episode of those 
long and cruel wars of religion which, beginning in Scot- 
land after the constitution of the first Presbyterian 
Covenant, set aflame the whole of Western Europe. Of 
course, the occasion for the wars differed in each country, 
but the cause was the same in every case and the ques- 
tion which was to be supreme in Europe, Catholicism or 
Protestantism, actuated them all. In this tremendous 
struggle all questions were finally reduced to one, and as 
social influences aligned themselves on one side or the 
other, the tide turned in favor of or against the church. 
Catholics and Protestants supported their brethren in 
the faith on the other side of the frontiers. Each side 
sought a decisive victory; divided influence or co- 
ordinate recognition was acceptable to neither. Timid 
persons and politicians seeking to remain neutral were 
carried away by the current or submerged by it. Neutral- 
ity was impossible; everyone was forced to take part in 
the struggle. 

The kings of France, lacking principles and decision, 
found their own forces divided and were unable to carry 
out a real international policy. On the other hand, 
Elizabeth, Queen of England, resolutely ranged herself 

101 



102 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

on the side of international Protestantism, assisting 
and often directing its attacks. Against her, Philip II 
of Spain, considering himself as the absolute defender 
of Catholicism in Europe, set his nationality and his 
faith. Lacking decision in political matters, he showed 
no indecision in matters of faith. Against him arose 
the league of Protestants throughout Europe. They 
realized that, if he was defeated and his country crushed, 
the church would be defeated throughout the world.^The 
Protestants therefore concentrated their attack on him 
in the Netherlands. The geographical position of the 
latter made interference with England, France, and 
Germany especially feasible; but they were at the same 
time the weakest spots in Philip's dominions. Revolt 
blazed within their borders — such revolt as might result 
in bringing his power to an end. This Philip realized 
full well, and determined to go to any limit in order 
to keep the Netherlands. Nothing was left undone 
which would serve to suppress every attempt at revolt. 
This object it was which dictated his unhappy policy in 
the Netherlands, a policy that resulted in the loss of the 
northern part, and ultimately in the founding of the 
separate state of the United Provinces (Holland). 

The true meaning of the wars of religion in the Nether- 
lands cannot be properly understood without taking these 
considerations into account. It will also be useful to 
consider the characters of those prominently involved 
in the tragedy, before narrating the details of the tragedy 
itself. 

Philip II, King of Spain and sovereign of the Nether- 
lands, was above all a Spaniard. Educated in Spain, he 
found himself unable to understand the Belgians as his 



PHILIP II AND THE NETHERLANDS REVOLT 103 

father had. He did not appreciate their pride, their 
deep love of liberty, and their respect for the privileges 
granted them. An autocratic king, he was haughty as 
only a Spaniard can be. Deeply convinced of the supe- 
riority of Catholicism, and possessing principles abso- 
lutely rigid in character, he was incapable of compromise 
— in short, a real bigot. In political affairs he endeavored 
to arrange every detail himself, and personally to read 
piles of dispatches by the light of a candle in his dark 
room in the Escurial. He labored day and night, con- 
stantly immersed in thought, and was remarkably slow 
in reaching a decision. When, however, his mind was 
finally made up, it was usually too late. Events had 
progressed in the meantime and when his orders reached 
the theater of war they could not be carried out, since 
the situation had entirely changed. That slowness of 
decision brought him many disasters. Nevertheless, he 
was an excellent father to his children, and there are 
extant letters written by him to his daughters, in which 
it is difficult to recognize the lonely thinker of the 
Escurial. 

He paid a short visit to his subjects in the Netherlands 
at the beginning of his reign (1557), but left no sym- 
pathetic impression behind. His sister, Duchess Mar- 
gareta of Parma, remained in the country to govern 
the people during his absence. He was absent to the 
end. His Flemish subjects never saw him again. From 
Madrid he directed the affairs of the Belgians, and 
studied the dispatches which reached him every week. 

Margareta, offspring of the amour of Emperor Charles 
V with the daughter of a Flemish upholsterer from Aude- 
naerde, had been educated for a time in Brussels and had 



104 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

then gone to Italy, where she successively married Ales- 
sandro de' Medici and Ottavio Farnese, the latter being 
Duke of Parma and Piacenza. Although of masculine 
character, loving sport and exercises, Margareta possessed 
the feminine characteristics of vanity and shrewdness. 
She had acquired in Italy a disposition to engage in 
combinazione, and succeeded in playing the game often 
under very difficult circumstances. Philip of Spain left 
her as an assistant in her political councils a man of real 
diplomacy, Cardinal de Granvelle. 

Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Burgundian in origin, 
was a loyal servant of his master. He was the man of 
the raison d'etat. Philip II never had a more faithful 
minister. Granvelle desired only the welfare of the King 
and of the state he represented, and was heroic enough 
to assume the responsibility for the drastic measures 
taken by his sovereign. He was a man of real political 
genius, clear-sighted, absolutely unselfish. The main 
object of his political plans was that Spain should rule 
the seas, and it was he who urged Philip II to send the 
famous Armada against England. 

When Philip II began his reign in the Netherlands, 
the financial situation of the government was distressing. 
Charles V had left heavy debts created by his numerous 
wars. Public opinion was defiant, influenced as it was 
by ill will for the unsympathetic King and by the baseless 
fear that the scheme of erecting new dioceses would be 
the precursor of the terrible Spanish Inquisition. 

The scheme of erecting new dioceses had been con- 
ceived by the King in 1559, in order to counteract more 
strongly the propaganda of Protestantism. The existing 
mediaeval dioceses were too large to enable the bishops 



PHILIP II AND THE NETHERLANDS REVOLT 105 

to carry out their mission as guardians of the faith. It 
was necessary, therefore, that the old dioceses be broken 
up and divided into smaller ones, so that the bishops 
would have more opportunity for action in smaller areas. 
The Pope consented, and permitted the erection of 
thirteen new dioceses. From an ecclesiastical point of 
view the country was now divided as follows: the arch- 
bishopric of Malines, with the suffragan dioceses, Ant- 
werp, Bois-le-Duc, Ghent, Ypres, Bruges, Ruremonde; 
the archbishopric of Cambrai, with the suffragans, Ar- 
ras, Tournai, Namur, Saint-Omer; the archbishopric of 
Utrecht, with the suffragans, Haerlem, Deventer, Leeu- 
warden, Middelburg, Groninge. The scheme stirred 
up violent opposition among the Belgian nobles, the 
abbots, some of the bishops, and even among the common 
people. The nobles feared the loss of their political 
influence through the admission of so many bishops into 
the States-General, where they would occupy leading 
positions. Many of the abbots were resentful because 
their monasteries would be compelled to contribute to 
the new bishops a part of their income, in support of the 
new dioceses. Some of the bishops were angered over 
the division of their former dioceses and the reduction of 
their spiritual power. The people, influenced by political 
agents and Protestant propagandists, were led to believe 
that each new bishop would simply be a representative 
of the Spanish Inquisition. 

The movement of opposition would have been easily 
repressed by the Belgian nobles had they really been 
faithful to the King. But, on the whole, they were not. 
They had the same feelings as the French aristocracy at this 
time. They w r ere horrified at the idea of the supremacy 



106 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

of the sovereign power. Although not possessing any 
definite aim, they tried to dominate the Prince and the 
state by means of the political power they themselves 
controlled. They were members of the Council of State, 
governors of the different Belgian provinces, captains 
in the national army, the famous bandes d'ordonnance, 
and they exercised a tremendous influence on all classes. 
The political difficulties encountered by the government 
were for them but favorable opportunities of which to 
take advantage. The King himself afforded them a 
chance. With characteristic disregard for the national 
privileges, he established at Brussels a council called the 
Consulta, an institution of true Spanish type. Composed 
of a few individuals, it was dominated by the influence 
of Cardinal de Granvelle, and undertook to decide the 
most important questions of national policy. The Con- 
sulta stirred up an opposition of formidable character, 
guided by the most influential Belgian nobles, the Prince 
of Orange and the counts of Egmont and Horn. Cardinal 
de Granvelle became the victim of the most violent 
attacks. Margaret a of Parma first sought to defend 
him, but, little by little, influenced by the nobles, she 
finally ranged herself on their side and herself requested 
the King to recall the unsympathetic minister. Partly 
through weariness, partly through political miscalculation, 
Philip II yielded. Granvelle left the Netherlands. 

This was a triumph for the opposition. Margareta, 
who had been moved by jealousy of Granvelle and 
who had hoped to add materially to her power after his 
departure, fell more and more under the control of the 
nobles, who flattered her and took advantage of her 
feminine vanity. A reign of anarchy and favoritism 



PHILIP II AND THE NETHERLANDS REVOLT 107 

followed, the friends of the nobles being furnished with 
offices and perquisites. The political opponents of the 
King now tried to consolidate and to perpetuate their 
success. They asked that all affairs be subject to the 
control of the Council of State, the real national body of 
which they themselves were the masters; that he should 
convoke the States-General, and that he should temper 
the placarts against the heretics and abolish the power 
of the Inquisitors. The granting of the first of these 
demands would have made the nobles all-powerful in 
political affairs. From the second measure — the meeting 
of the States-General — they expected ratification of their 
conduct and popular support of the opposition they had 
inaugurated. In dealing with the question of the placarts, 
they played a sort of religious policy calculated to bring 
them the support of the Lutherans and the Calvinists. 

Philip II rejected their demands. Astonished by this 
resistance, which they did not expect after the capitulation 
of the King on the question of Granvelle, some of the 
Belgian nobles, and especially the Prince of Orange, suc- 
ceeded in embroiling the Protestant sectarians in the 
struggle. The Calvinists, more warlike than the Luther- 
ans, were more than ready to join the movement, owing 
to their hatred of the Catholic King of Spain. But, once 
begun, the movement became an irresistible one. Stirred 
up by their preachers and assisted by the worst elements 
of the populace, the Calvinists invaded the churches, 
smashed the statues of the saints, carried away the 
treasures, attacked the convents, and killed monks and 
priests (1566). The Belgian nobles, surprised by the 
revolt they had so imprudently initiated, were unable to 
stop it; rather they were submerged by the current. 



108 A SHOUT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

From this time onward the political anti-Spanish move- 
ment became a part of the general movement of the wars 
of religion. Many Catholics foresaw what would happen 
and deserted the cause, separating themselves from a 
revolt that was being directed as much against the church 
as against Spanish rule. 

From the revolt of 1566 and the outrages of the sec- 
tarians resulted the later policy of Philip II toward the 
Netherlands. Hitherto he had but followed the tradi- 
tional policy of his father, Emperor Charles. He had 
showed respect for political institutions; he had avoided 
any cause of rupture. He had tried, of course unwillingly 
and unskilfully, to satisfy public opinion. His patience 
brought him nothing but a serious check. He had recalled, 
in 1561, the Spanish garrisons which had been quartered 
in Belgium during the war with France; he had sacrificed 
his loyal minister Granvelle and had capitulated to 
the nobles. But the more he showed himself to be 
conciliatory the more audacious became the opposition. 
This was at first purely political and aimed only at the 
reconstruction of the Burgundian state as against the 
Spanish state; later, it had dared to claim liberty of 
conscience, an unheard-of thing at this period; finally, 
it had favored the Calvinistic agitation and had caused 
the desecration of convents and churches. 

When the news of this outrage reached the King, he 
angrily exclaimed: "By the soul of my father, for these 
crimes they shall pay a heavy price.' ' In the eyes of 
Philip II, official protector of Catholicism, both the royal 
and the divine majesty had been insulted, and the claim 
for autonomy had but aggravated the triumph of heresy. 
His rebellious subjects were to be chastised. He would 



PHILIP II AND THE NETHERLANDS REVOLT 109 

impose political absolutism upon them as well as the 
religious control that prevailed in Spain. The iron rule 
he intended to introduce would preserve for the church 
and for himself those countries which were the corner- 
stones of his world-power. 

From now on we may speak of the " Spanish rule." 
The traditionally lax policy of Emperor Charles was gone. 
The tyranny of Spain was destined to crush the Belgians. 
That task was intrusted to the Duke of Alva, who came 
to Belgium as governor in 1567. Don Luis Alvarez de 
Toledo, Duke of Alva and Marquess of Soria, was a cold 
and implacable warrior. The greatness of his king was 
for him. the greatness of Spain. He hated the Belgians, 
who had dared to ask for liberty of conscience, as much 
as he hated the heretics. He accomplished his terrible 
mission unwaveringly and remorselessly; his method of 
government was terror. Accustomed to fight the Moslem 
Moors of Spain, he knew only two weapons with which 
to crush the heretics — the sword and the stake. He 
wrote in one of his letters: "It is infinitely better to 
keep, by means of war, for God and for the King, an 
impoverished and even ruined country, than to keep it, 
without war, undamaged, for the devil and his partisans, 
the heretics/' 

Such was the terrible warrior to whom Philip II 
intrusted a double task: to chastise the rebels and heretics 
and to subject the nation to the rule of Madrid. Alva 
arrived in Belgium with a large number of the best Spanish 
troops. Contrary to all customs in the free Netherlands, 
they were billeted in the cities. A fortress was ordered 
built at Antwerp. The counts of Egmont and Horn and 
the burgomaster of Antwerp were treacherously arrested 



110 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

and imprisoned. But the real leader of the opposition, 
the Prince of Orange, could not be taken. More clear- 
sighted than his friends, he had fled to Holland before 
the coming vengeance. In defiance of all national privi- 
leges, Alva established an extraordinary tribunal, which 
the people soon called the " Council of Blood "; that 
court of justice, established and conducted in a thoroughly- 
revolutionary manner, condemned scores of people who 
were more or less guilty of revolt against the King. Six 
thousand victims were sentenced to death and executed. 
Only political crimes were taken into account, and the 
condemnation was followed by the confiscation of prop- 
erty — a remarkably remunerative operation for the 
Spanish treasure chest. Terror fell upon the Belgians. 
All who had engaged in the slightest degree in the revolt 
of 1566 fled to foreign countries; Lutherans and Cal- 
vinists, panic-stricken, left the Netherlands in large 
numbers. 

Meanwhile the Prince of Orange had sought for help 
among the German Protestant princes; he gathered an 
army and invaded Belgium. He had expected a general 
revolt of the people against Alva at the first news of his 
campaign. But the soldiers of his army, merely hirelings, 
and many of them fanatical Protestants, pillaged churches 
and convents on their way; they disgusted the naturally 
religious populace of Belgium, and the campaign of 
William the Silent proved a complete failure. The prince 
was compelled to seek refuge in France, where he hoped 
to get help from Coligny and the French Huguenots. 

By way of reply to this misadventure of William the 
Silent came the execution of the counts of Egmont and 
Horn. The " Council of Blood" charged them with 



PHILIP II AND THE NETHERLANDS REVOLT 111 

high treason and ordered them to be put to death, on the 
Place du Sablon, in the heart of Brussels. Their death 
stupified the people and disheartened the nationalists. 
Both counts fell victims to the hatred of the terrible duke, 
for they were guilty only of weakness and imprudence — ■ 
they never really were traitors to their sovereign. The 
Belgians always regarded them as martyrs for their 
country. Alva now proceeded to introduce into the 
Netherlands the features of the Spanish regime, while 
his condemnations continued. For the first time since 
1561 the new bishops were able to occupy their bishop- 
rics, the Catholic faith w T as everywhere re-established, 
the University of Louvain was visited in order to deter- 
mine whether it was sufficiently orthodox, the Council of 
State was no more called together or given over to Span- 
iards. In order to secure supplies and money for his 
administration and to crush the country economically, 
Alva introduced unheard-of taxes, called the centieme, 
vingtieme, et dixieme denier. This meant a permanent 
impost, which the Belgians had always stoutly resisted. 
A revolt broke out all over the country. What the 
appeals of William the Silent did not effect, the attack 
upon the people's privileges and wealth did. The Prince 
of Orange cleverly took advantage of it, and, needing the 
help of the heretics to fight the enemy, gave the direction 
of the movement into the hands of the Calvinists. 
Meanwhile a storm of recrimination and complaints, 
among which the protests of the bishops and of the 
University of Louvain were not the weakest, reached 
Philip II. The King understood that he had gone to work 
the wrong way, and that the policy of terrorism had not 
brought him any real success. He changed his mind and 



112 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

recalled Alva. The terrible duke left Belgium pursued 
by the maledictions of the whole people. 

His successor, Don Luis de Requesens, was a better 
man. The change in the King's attitude was immedi- 
ately revealed by the measures taken by the new governor. 
Requesens abolished the " Council of Blood/ 7 proclaimed 
a general amnesty, and opened negotiations at Breda 
with the rebellious provinces. These negotiations failed, 
however, and the struggle continued on both sides with 
alternating successes and reverses. Requesens died sud- 
denly in 1575, at a moment when the government was 
facing an appalling financial crisis. The Council of State 
immediately took over the regency, till the King should 
send a new governor. 

The Prince of Orange, however, had decided that there 
should be no peace and that the revolutionary movement 
should be agitated as much as possible. He had com- 
pletely gained the confidence of Holland and Zeeland, 
where he was the real master, and he planned to extend his 
control over the rest of the Seventeen Provinces. Deeply 
compromised as he was, any agreement with the King 
would mean disaster and the end of his plans, which 
aimed at the separation of the Belgian provinces from the 
Spanish monarchy. Owing to personal circumstances 
he had first endeavored to resist Philip II by legal means. 
During his exile and under the government of Alva he 
had gone farther and had planned a general revolt, and 
now that the milder attitude of the King threatened to 
win back some sympathy in Belgium, especially among 
the Catholics, he foresaw that only the most daring policy 
would save the revolutionary movement. Agents were 
therefore sent to the southern provinces to stir up the 



PHILIP II AND THE NETHERLANDS REVOLT 113 

people against any attempt at conciliation. As a result 
of their intrigues, the members of the Council of State 
were arrested by a furious mob and imprisoned. By 
the time they were liberated they had fallen completely 
under the influence of the revolutionary leaders. The 
States-General were called together by the friendly mem- 
bers of the Council of State, and for nine years exercised 
the chief power in Belgium. It was during their govern- 
ment, which proved on the whole to be Catholic and 
loyalist, that the Spanish soldiers, deprived of their pay, 
arose and sacked the city of Antwerp, killing nearly seven 
thousand people. This event is known as the " Spanish 
Fury." 

This, of course, gave the anti-Spanish party an excel- 
lent chance. Under the pressure of William the Silent, 
the States-General met at Ghent in 1575, and out of 
their deliberations was born the famous " Pacification of 
Ghent." This act was the work of the Prince of Orange, 
and was intended to reconcile Catholics and Protestants 
and to settle their religious differences, in order that they 
might be united in the political struggle against Spain. 
This attempt at establishing a " peace of religion" was 
unfortunately premature and provisional. The hostili- 
ties between Catholics and Protestants were suspended 
and religious tolerance was proclaimed; but in Holland 
and Zeeland, the political sphere of influence of the Prince 
of Orange, the Catholic worship was provisionally for- 
bidden. The States-General would, it was promised, 
later on reconsider the whole problem and settle the 
religious differences definitely. This agreement was, of 
course, unfavorable to the Catholics, but union was 
temporarily restored. 



114 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

Meanwhile Don Juan, the new Spanish governor, had 
been appointed by Philip II and had arrived in Belgium. 
Don Juan was the son of Charles V, and the celebrated 
victor over the Turks in the naval battle of Lepanto 
(1571). He had no sympathy for the Belgians and did 
not like the task which was intrusted to him. He 
attempted, of course, though against his convictions, to 
negotiate with the rebels, but failed. As we have seen, 
the Prince of Orange had determined that there should 
be no peace until his plans had been carried out. By 
surprising and occupying the fortress of Namur, contrary 
to the conventions but in order to obtain a stronghold 
for his protection, Don Juan played, as a matter of fact, 
into the hands of his enemies. Under the influence of 
William the Silent the States-General declared the gov- 
ernor a traitor to the country, and called upon Archduke 
Mathias, brother of Emperor Rodolphe, to be their new 
governor. Mathias became practically an instrument 
in the hands of the Prince of Orange, who was appointed 
as his lieutenant-general. 

Now followed a period of anarchy and misrule. 
Germany, England, and France sent into Belgium a 
host of sectarians and adventurers; these aided the 
Calvinists in taking Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent. 
Ghent became the center of a Calvinistic republic, 
where the leaders ruled by terror and began a rigorous 
persecution of the Catholics. It was now quite clear 
that the Protestants had gained the upper hand in 
the struggle and that the national revolt had turned 
into a war against Catholicism. In the midst of these 
troubles, Don Juan of Austria died at Bouges, near 
Namur (1578). 



PHILIP II AND THE NETHERLANDS REVOLT 115 

At this very moment, events of great importance took 
place. The Prince of Orange, contrary to the provisions 
of the Pacification of Ghent, had again endeavored to 
introduce a new " peace of religion/' which had for its 
object the introduction of Protestantism into the Bel- 
gian provinces other than Holland and Zeeland. The 
Protestant ministers rejected his proposal. What they 
wanted was not co-ordinate recognition of Catholicism 
and Protestantism, but the complete supremacy of their 
own religion. Seeing that his attempts brought about 
only discontent of both parties, Catholics and Protestants, 
William the Silent finally declared himself openly as a 
Calvinist (1578). His rupture with the Catholics was 
now complete. 

This induced the southern provinces, where Catholicism 
was still in control, to withdraw their support and to 
reconcile themselves with the Spanish King. The sole 
motive of this decision was a religious one. There could 
be no talk of hostility between the Walloons of the south 
and the Flemings of the north. This was not a question 
of racial or linguistic difference. The people of Artois, 
Hainaut, and French Flanders were disgusted at the 
excesses committed by the Calvinists of Ghent and the 
position taken by William the Silent in religious matters. 
The Catholic spirit of Belgium, imposed on the country 
ever since the Middle Ages, weighed more strongly in 
their minds than their national hostility to the Spanish 
rule. Moreover, two other provinces which joined them 
— Namur and Luxemburg — had never taken part in the 
revolt. As we have seen, the province of Brabant, 
more independent than any other, and, since the four- 
teenth century, determined in its opposition to foreign 



116 A SHOUT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

interference, had taken the real leadership in the struggle 
against Spain. 

The movement in the south in favor of a reconciliation 
with Philip II was an essentially popular movement. 
The nobles of Artois and Hainaut still wavered in their 
sympathies. 1 The clever policy of the new governor, 
Alexander Farnese, who succeeded Don Juan of Austria 
after the death of the latter (1578), overcame their last 
hesitation. 2 

Alexander Farnese was the son of Margareta of Parma, 
who had formerly governed the Netherlands. He was of 
a sympathetic nature, loyal, honest, but firm. He was 
one of the greatest warriors of his age, but at the same 
time, being an Italian prince, he distinguished himself as 
a very shrewd diplomat. At last Philip II had found the 
right man to govern the Netherlands. Alexander Far- 
nese, highly approved by Cardinal de Granvelle — who 
at this time resided in Madrid — inaugurated a policy of 
mildness and conciliation that produced the happiest 
results. He induced the nobles of the southern provinces, 
and especially the Count of Lalaing, to abandon their 
scruples and to return to the service of the King. Both 
clever diplomacy and gifts and promises of large sums 
of money played a part in these achievements. From 
these negotiations resulted the Treaty of Arras (1579), 
concluded between the representatives of Artois, Hainaut, 

1 According to the unpublished correspondence of Alexander Farnese 
which I have studied in the state archives of Naples and Parma. See the 
introduction to the book by A. Cauchie and L. Van der Essen, Inventaire 
des archives farnesiennes de Naples (published by the Royal Commission 
of History), Brussels, 1910. See also L. Van der Essen, Les Archives 
farnesiennes de Parme au point de vue de Vhistoire des Pays-Bas catholiques, 
Brussels, 1913 (Royal Commission of History). 

2 According to the same sources. 



PHILIP II AND THE NETHERLANDS REVOLT 117 

Luxemburg, Namur, and French Flanders and the new 
governor, as a consequence of which the southern prov- 
inces returned to the allegiance of Philip II. A con- 
cession made by Farnese was that the foreign troops, 
which had for so many years pillaged and ruined the 
country, should leave Belgium. 

The Treaty of Arras resulted in the reconquest, with- 
out bloodshed, of the southern part of Belgium; it pro- 
voked a rupture between Catholics and Protestants, the 
separation of the Walloons and the Flemings, and crushed 
the plans of the Prince of Orange. Henceforth it would 
be no longer possible to unite the whole of Belgium against 
Spanish rule. William the Silent replied to the Treaty 
of Arras by the so-called Union of Utrecht (1579), where- 
by the northern provinces of the Netherlands united 
themselves in the common struggle and decided to carry 
on the revolt to ultimate victory. Slowly, but surely, 
the secession of Belgium from Holland was in progress. 

The Prince of Orange, infuriated by the blow inflicted 
on his policy, now proclaimed the forfeiture by Philip II 
of the sovereignty of the Netherlands and offered the 
crown to the Duke of Anjou, brother of the French King 
Henry III (1584). He himself received the title of gov- 
ernor of Holland and Zeeland and remained the real leader 
of the union. Philip II replied by declaring the Prince 
an outlaw and putting a price on his head. Such an 
appeal to murder was common in the sixteenth century 
and was even supported by the teaching of many theorists; 
today it seems cruel and opposed to every principle of 
civilization. A man fanatical enough to fulfil the desire 
of the Spanish King was soon found. Balthazar Gerard 
treacherously assassinated the Prince of Orange at Delft, 



118 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

in 1584. So died the leader of the revolt of the Nether- 
lands against Spain. He did not succeed in uniting the 
whole of Belgium against Philip II, but he initiated the 
United Provinces of Holland. The Dutch are right, 
therefore, in calling him the " Father of the Fatherland." 

Meanwhile, supported by the Catholic provinces, 
Alexander Farnese had successively reconquered all the 
Belgian cities and won an imperishable fame by the siege 
and conquest of Antwerp. Only Ostend resisted and 
could not be taken. It seemed now to be the turn of the 
north, and already the United Provinces were threatened 
with invasion, when the unwise policy of Philip II sud- 
denly stopped the advance. The lonely autocrat of the 
Escurial had planned the invasion of England and the 
conquest of the throne of France, where Henry IV, a 
Protestant but the legitimate heir, was at war with the 
Catholic League. To these plans he sacrificed all the 
resources of Spain from 1587 to 1592 and forced Farnese 
to suspend his campaign in Flanders, to assist in the 
transport of troops for the invasion of England, and to 
aid with his army the League in France. Both enter- 
prises failed utterly, the invasion of England by the 
defeat of the Spanish Armada, the conquest of the French 
throne by the final rally of the country to the support 
of Henry IV. 

The obstinacy of Philip II caused the loss of the 
northern part of the Netherlands, which Farnese would 
probably have conquered. Alexander Farnese died in 
1592 and at his death the Spanish King lost the best 
governor he had ever had in Belgium. The last years 
of the sixteenth century were unhappy years for the 
country. The long and bloody struggle had utterly 



PHILIP II AND THE NETHERLANDS REVOLT 119 

ruined the land. The population had been reduced by at 
least 50 per cent; churches and civic buildings had been 
burned or severely damaged; trade and industry were 
in large part gone; Antwerp had lost its commerce, and 
thousands of people engaged in trade had fled to England, 
Germany, or Holland. Artistic and literary activity had 
come to a complete standstill; and the scientific center 
of Belgium, the University of Louvain, barely escaped 
complete ruin. 

But Belgium remained Catholic and subject to the 
Spanish branch of the Hapsburgs, while the United 
Provinces (of Holland), overwhelmingly Protestant, had 
in fact become an independent country. Henceforth 
Belgium and Holland went each its own way, and their 
history no longer records common interests, at least until 
the period of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands 
(1814). 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE REIGN OF THE ARCHDUKE ALBERT AND 
ISABELLA (1598-1633) 

Finally, convinced after a long and painful experience 
that peace was to be restored to Belgium only by new 
means and other methods than those heretofore employed, 
and that by waging war he would not be able to win 
back the northern provinces, Philip II tried another 
plan. He thought that by giving national sovereigns 
to the Catholic provinces he might induce the Protestants 
of Holland to return to their former allegiance and thus 
restore the lost unity of the Netherlands. In 1598 he 
decided, shortly before his death, that the Netherlands 
should be erected into an independent state, whose 
crown he gave to his daughter Isabella, after she had 
married Archduke Albert of Austria. If she and her 
consort should have no children, the Belgian provinces 
were to return to Spain. This was an important decision, 
although nobody in Europe believed in the real inde- 
pendence of Belgium. The country was practically under 
Spanish influence. But autonomy, at least, existed. 

Strange to say, the satisfaction felt by the Belgians 
was at first mingled with some disappointment. As 
Albert and Isabella were obliged, as sovereigns of "the 
Netherlands," to continue the war against the northern 
provinces in order to unite them with those in the south 
already under their power, the Belgians feared that they 
would be charged w T ith the heavy burden of war, and 

120 



REIGN OF ALBERT AND ISABELLA 121 

this time without the aid of the Spanish finances and 
of the Spanish army. But Philip II had foreseen the 
difficulty. He sent the famous general Spinola to their 
assistance, with an army of excellent Spanish troops. 

At first Archduke Albert initiated negotiations with 
the United Provinces, but his proposals were received 
with contempt. He was forced to make war. A bloody 
battle was fought at Nieuport, where the Archduke 
courageously led his troops against the Dutch under 
Maurice of Nassau. Although not victorious, Albert 
decided to besiege Ostend, the only Belgian city left in 
the hands of the rebels. The siege of Ostend lasted three 
years, from 1601 to 1604. On both sides deeds of heroism 
were numerous. Three rings of fortifications had to be 
taken and every trench was stormed at the cost of many 
lives. At length Ostend, continuously battered by 
artillery, could no longer resist the energetic assaults 
of the soldiers of Spinola. It surrendered, but only its 
ruins were left in the hands of the victor. 

After the fall of Ostend, the Archduke, wishing to 
put an end to this war of exhaustion, again opened nego- 
tiations with the United Provinces, and succeeded in 
concluding a truce for twelve years (1609-21). During 
that time Albert and Isabella did their best to heal the 
wounds of their people. Their reign was one of peace 
and of reconstruction. The sovereign power was even 
stronger than before the crisis of the sixteenth century. 
No revolt troubled the happy years of the Archduke's 
rule. National institutions were not disturbed, the 
re-establishment of order was attempted by law rather 
than by force. In 1611 a meeting of magistrates and 
lawyers was called in order to codify the judicial 



122 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

provisions and to inaugurate a reform of civil and criminal 
law. The fruit of that attempt was the Edit perpetuel, a 
judicial monument of great importance. At the same 
time the old customs, the unwritten law of the Belgian 
principalities and cities, were reduced to writing and 
published in definite form by order of the sovereign. 
In addition to the respect they manifested for the cus- 
toms of the country, Albert and Isabella showed the utmost 
interest in the restoration of every kind of social activity. 
Zealous for the welfare of Catholicism, they undertook 
to restore the religious life of the country. Three hun- 
dred churches and convents were rebuilt or founded. The 
religious orders of the Jesuits, the Carmelites, etc., found 
in the sovereigns hearty and generous protectors. The 
lost treasures of the churches had to be replaced, and 
the restoration of worship brought about the revival of 
the goldsmith's art and of painting. The Flemish school 
of painting again became as famous as in the time of the 
Burgundian dukes. The head of this school was Peter 
Paul Rubens; and among his pupils he counted artists 
like Van Dyck, Teniers, and Jordaens. Public education 
was encouraged and many colleges and academies were 
opened for the teaching of Greek and Latin. The Uni- 
versity of Louvain was accorded special protection. 
In 1607 Drusius, abbot of the abbey of Pare, near Louvain, 
and Van Craesbeke, councilor of Brabant, were appointed 
to inspect the University. Another delegate, the Nuncio 
Caraffa, was sent by the Pope. The system of "visita- 
tion," as it was called, lasted, with interruptions, till 
1617, when a complete scheme of regulations was enacted. 
The jurisdiction of the academic authorities, the privileges 
of the University, the interests of teaching and of the 



REIGN OF ALBERT AND ISABELLA 123 

various colleges, the rights and duties of professors, 
the granting of degrees, the discipline and conduct of 
the students — everything was carefully dealt with. The 
visitation of 1617 established the authority of the Uni- 
versity of Louvain and gave it a legal status. 

The excellent results of the new rules were immediately 
apparent. At this time seven or eight thousand students, 
among them Dutchmen, Frisians, Flemings, Germans, 
Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Italians, were in attendance 
at the University. The faculty of law became especially 
notable, and professors such as Peckius, Coursele, Tulden, 
Perez, and Gudelin were regarded as eminent authorities. 
In letters the humanists Justus Lipsius and Erycius 
Puteanus, Valerius Andreas and Nicholas Vernuleus were 
famous. Albert and Isabella showed clearly their lively 
interest in the institution by attending one of the lectures 
of Justus Lipsius. 

Although artistic, literary, and scientific interests 
flourished during the reign of Albert and Isabella, the trade 
and industry of Belgium enjoyed no such revival. Ant- 
werp was closed and had no access to the sea, as the Dutch 
blocked the Scheldt, and all commerce with the colonies 
of the New World was forbidden to the people of Belgium 
by Spain. Moreover, the peace and safety necessary to 
the development of trade were continually threatened by 
France in the south and by the United Provinces in the 
north. 

The private life of Albert and Isabelle was modest 
and simple. Their court at Brussels was an example of 
morality and seriousness, although they were not given 
over to bigotry. Isabella w T as a cheerful princess; she 
liked to mingle sometimes with the people and to take 



124 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

part in their rejoicings and their sports. Both sovereigns 
were very popular. 

Sorrow filled the souls of the Belgians when the Arch- 
duke died in 1621, without issue. According to the testa- 
ment of Philip II, Belgium was held obliged to return to 
Spanish rule. Indeed, Spain immediately took possession 
of the country and, although Isabella remained at Brussels, 
she was no longer a sovereign, but a simple regent in the 
name of the King. When she died in 1633, the universal 
mourning in town and country proved how well she had 
succeeded in winning the sympathy of the Belgians. 1 

1 Attention has been called to the fact that the present King and Queen 
of the Belgians bear the same names: Albert and Elisabeth (Isabella). 



CHAPTER IX 
THE LAST YEARS OF THE SPANISH RULE (1633-1715) 

The last eighty years of the seventeenth century were 
an unhappy period for Belgium. France, under Richelieu 
and Louis XIV, continually attacked the declining Spanish 
monarchy, and sought to wrest from it the Belgian 
provinces piece by piece. From 1622 to 1648 France was 
assisted in this policy of conquest by the United Provinces 
of Holland. Each treaty of this period marks a territorial 
diminution of Belgium and sometimes likewise a decisive 
blow at the elements of its material prosperity. The 
Treaty of Munster, concluded in 1648 between Spain and 
the United Provinces, remorselessly sacrificed the com- 
mercial interests of Belgium. According to this treaty 
it was agreed that the Dutch should have the right to 
control and to close the Scheldt, the very source of Ant- 
werp's wealth. It was also agreed that henceforth the 
United Provinces should definitely retain their independ- 
ence, won by William the Silent and his sons, should even 
remain in possession of Northern Brabant and Northern 
Flanders, and should divide with Belgium the sovereignty 
over Maestricht, 

The act which established the final separation between 

Belgium and Holland constituted also the first act of 

hostility of the latter. As a consequence of the Treaty 

of Munster, Limburg was divided between both countries 

in 1661. The Dutch obtained the larger part of the 

country of Fauquemont and Daelhem and a portion of 

Rolduc. 

125 



126 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

Other territorial losses were forced upon Belgium some 
years later. In 1659, France acquired nearly all the 
country of Artois, by the Treaty of the Pyrennees; in 
1668, French Flanders and Tournaisis, by the Treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle; in 1678, Franche-Comte, Cambrai and 
Cambresis, and the rest of Artois, by the Treaty of 
Nim&gue. On the whole, the defeats suffered by the 
Spanish monarchy at the period of its decline cost Belgium, 
hopelessly attached to the dying body, the north of 
Flanders, and the south of Flanders, of Hainaut, and of 
Luxemburg. 

Each treaty terminated a war; and from the numerous 
negotiations already mentioned it is not difficult to realize 
how many wars Belgium was forced to endure on her own 
soil. Dutch, French, English, Spanish, Germans, suc- 
cessively trampled over the rich fields of Flanders and 
the industrious country of the Walloons. In fifty years, 
from 1642 to 1709, no less than ten famous battles were 
fought on Belgian soil. Belgium was already at that time 
"the cockpit of Christendom/ ' a designation found in an 
old English book, Instructions for Forreine Travell, written 
in 1642 by James Howell, a clerk in the diplomatic service. 1 
Howell says: 

.... For the Netherlands have been for many years, as 
one may say, the very cockpit of Christendom, the school of 
arms and rendezvous of all adventurous spirits and cadets; 
which makes most nations beholden to them for soldiers. There- 
fore the history of the Belgic wars are very worth the reading; 
for I know none fuller of stratagems, of reaches of policy, .... 
nor a war which hath produced such deplorable effects, directly 
or collaterally, all Christendom over, both by sea and land. 

1 This information is given by Ensor, Belgium, pp. 103-4. At about 
the same time, the Nuncio Bentivoglio, in his famous Delia Guerra di 
Fiandra, calls Belgium the arena militare of Europe* 



LAST YEARS OF THE SPANISH RULE 127 

What all these wars meant for the poor inhabitants of 
the country may be imagined when the devastation 
wrought by huge armies in Poland today is borne in 
mind. And it must be remembered that the armies of 
the belligerent powers in the seventeenth century were, 
to a large extent, composed of mercenaries without any 
feeling of patriotism, without discipline, without morals, 
who saw in military occupation only an opportunity for 
excesses and outrages of all kinds, who revolted when not 
regularly paid, and who pillaged the friendly country 
they were hired to defend as well as the enemy's territory. 
Massacre, burning, looting, awful tortures inflicted on the 
unhappy inhabitants in order to force them to reveal the 
spot where their money was kept — all this was daily work 
for those rough hirelings. In the village of Meix-devant- 
Virton, in 1636, the whole populace was burned alive 
in the church where it had taken refuge, not by the 
enemy, but by the Spanish troops intrusted with their 
defense. 1 Ruin, disease, and poverty were the terrible 
lot of Belgium during this sinister century. 

What of the internal situation of the country ? After 
the death of Archduke Albert (1621), the Spaniards 
increasingly dominated the destinies of Belgium. A 
Spanish army, paid by Spain and under a Spanish com- 
mander, permanently occupied many fortresses and im- 
portant cities. Those members of the Belgian aristocracy 
who sought to obtain influence with the intruders found 
themselves compelled to marry their daughters to 
Spaniards. The Spanish government put the native nobles 
entirely aside, and all important matters were discussed 
in Juntas — special committees composed of Spaniards. 

1 Mentioned by G. Kurth, Manuel d'histoire de Belgique, 2d ed. 



128 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

This unhappy state of things in 1622-33 provoked the 
so-called " conspiracy of the Belgian nobility against 
Spain." This was the work of some prominent seigneurs 
who failed to realize the historical conditions and the 
times in which they lived. They fondly believed that, 
with the help of France and of the United Provinces, 
they could start another Belgian revolt, like that of the 
sixteenth century, and that they could obtain support 
from the army and the people. They found themselves 
seriously mistaken. The Belgians, wearied of their 
misfortunes, refused to follow them. They had no con- 
fidence in the movement. The attempt failed and the 
conspirators were obliged to flee to foreign countries to 
avoid criminal prosecution. As for the States-General, 
except in 1600 and 1632-34, they were never called 
together; only when there was talk of peace negotiations 
with the United Provinces were they allowed to meet. 

The rule of the Hapsburg dynasty in Spain came to an 
end with the death of the last heir, Charles II, in 1700. 
The latter had provided in his will that Philip of Bourbon, 
grandson of Louis XIV, of France, should be his successor 
and consequently sovereign of the Netherlands. As a 
matter of fact, it was Louis XIV who governed in the name 
of Philip. The absolutist system which existed in France 
was suddenly introduced in Belgium, and organized by 
the Count of Bergeyck, with the help of French generals. 
This regime did not last long; in 1702 the War of the 
Spanish Succession broke out, in the course of which 
England and the United Provinces concluded an alliance 
against Louis XIV. 

Three treaties terminated the struggle — that of 
Utrecht, that of Rastadt, and that of Bade (1713-14). 



LAST YEARS OF THE SPANISH RULE 129 

The contracting powers decided that the Netherlands — 
that is to say, Belgium — should be transferred to the Aus- 
trian branch of the Hapsburgs. They would serve as a 
barrier for the protection of the United Provinces against 
any menace from France, and it was determined, there- 
fore, that the Dutch should continue to occupy Belgian 
territory provisionally till all questions had been settled. 
A final agreement was reached by the Treaty of Antwerp, 
better known as the " Treaty of the Barriers" (1715), 
somewhat modified by the Hague Convention of 1718. 
These several conventions placed the Hapsburgs of Austria 
in full possession of Belgium. 



CHAPTER X 

BELGIUM UNDER THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA 

(1713-89) 

When the house of Austria came into possession of 
Belgium only ten provinces out of the seventeen of the 
old Spanish Netherlands were left: Brabant, Limburg, 
Luxemburg, Namur, Hainaut, the seigniory of Tournai, 
the seigniory of Tourriaisis, Flanders, the seigniory of 
Malines, a part of Gueldre. West Flanders, including 
Ypres and some adjoining districts, formed a separate 
department. 

The Hapsburgs of Austria were not to be regarded as for- 
eign conquerors of Belgium. From the outset they had 
claimed to be the natural heirs of the Hapsburgs of Spain, 
and that claim was admitted by France, England, and Hol- 
land, and by the States-General of the Belgian provinces. 
There could be no question of Austrian "domination." 
In their relation to Belgium the Hapsburgs assumed the 
title of natural prince, as did Charles V at the beginning 
of the sixteenth century. Moreover, by the Treaty of the 
Barriers, Charles VI of Austria publicly proclaimed that 
his house assumed the rule over Belgium, subject to all the 
restrictions and guaranties to which the Hapsburgs of 
Spain had been subject. According to the treaties, Bel- 
gium was ceded to the Austrian Hapsburgs on condition 
that the predominance of the Catholic church in the 
country as well as the rights of the states and cities be 
recognized. The Catholic church and its position as the 
religion of the state were to be respected on account of 

130 



BELGIUM UNDER THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA 131 

the desire of France to erect a moral and religious barrier 
between herself and Protestant Holland; the popular 
rights were to be respected because the theory of the 
European balance of power required that the Emperor 
should be permitted only a limited sway. A strong, 
universal monarchy was no longer possible in Europe. 

The theory of the European balance of power had 
found expression through the Treaty of Westphalia 
(1648) ? whereby Europe ceased to be exclusively and 
officially Catholic, and Protestantism was granted recog- 
nition in law. Since the arbitration of the Pope in inter- 
national matters was no longer possible, owing to the 
refusal of the Protestant powers to acknowledge his 
decisions, each country had to rely only upon itself. The 
weaker states had only one protection, therefore, namely, 
to unite against any power which might try to absorb 
them. Out of these principles grew the idea of the Euro- 
pean balance of power, according to which no state was 
to be allowed to grow strong enough to menace the peace 
of the world. 

The external constitution of Belgium under Austrian 
rule having been established, Charles VI proceeded to pro- 
tect the rights of his family in respect to internal con- 
ditions. As Charles V had established the principle of 
the indivisibility of the Spanish Netherlands by the 
Augsburg transaction, already mentioned, the new Emperor 
established the same principle for the " Austrian Nether- 
lands" by a similar act, the " Pragmatic Sanction" of 
1725. Belgium was forever to be kept as an indivisible 
whole, the eldest son to be heir to the throne, and the 
right of succession of the female descendants in case 
of the failure of a male heir was again admitted. 



132 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

Well-defined obligations to the United Provinces of 
Holland were imposed upon Belgium by the Treaty of 
the Barriers. The Belgian sovereign was required to per- 
mit the presence of Dutch garrisons on Belgian soil, as 
a protection for Holland against France, in the cities and 
fortresses of Namur, Tournai, Furnes, Warneton, Ypres, 
and Knocke. A heavy yearly subsidy was to be paid by 
Belgium for the maintenance of those garrisons. The 
sovereign was also required to recognize the closing of the 
Scheldt, imposed by the Treaty of Munster (1648). 
Holland even claimed the right to prevent the Belgians 
from trading with the Indies. 

Notwithstanding these claims, Charles VI had tried 
to restore Belgian trade by the foundation of a shipping 
company, the "Compagnie d'Ostende," created under an 
imperial charter, for commercial dealings with America. 
But the opposition offered by Holland, supported by 
France and England, so influenced the weak Emperor as 
to induce him to suspend and finally to disband the com- 
pany — the only hope for the restoration of national trade. 

The obligation to maintain foreign garrisons in Belgium 
was both drastic and humiliating. Empress Maria The- 
resa, who succeeded to Charles VI as sovereign of the 
Austrian Netherlands in virtue of the provision of the 
" Pragmatic Sanction," tried to avoid the obligation of 
the " Barrier" by withholding payment due to the foreign 
garrisons. The final blow to this unjust system was 
given by her son, Emperor Joseph II, who simply ordered 
the demolition of the fortresses still occupied by the 
Dutch on Belgian soil. 

Joseph II, who was greatly interested in the restoration 
of the prosperity of the country, even attempted to secure 



BELGIUM UNDER THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA 133 

the complete opening of the Scheldt, still closed by the 
Dutch. After diplomatic negotiations, begun in 1784, 
had failed, owing to the energetic opposition of the United 
Provinces, once more supported by France, the Emperor 
tried to settle the question in a practical but simple man- 
ner. He ordered a vessel to leave Antwerp and follow the 
course of the river down to the sea, and another vessel to 
start from Ostend and follow the course of the river up 
to Antwerp. The Dutch, he hoped, would not fire upon 
the vessels, and the Scheldt would be opened to shipping 
by this stratagem. But the Dutch did fire, and forced 
the Belgian vessels to withdraw. Any further move on 
the part of the Emperor would mean war, and for this 
Joseph II was not prepared. The Scheldt remained closed. 
What was the policy of the Austrian Hapsburgs to- 
ward the institutions of the country ? It was essentially 
Austrian, and tended toward absolutism, influenced 
nevertheless by the teachings of the French philosophical 
school. It aimed at the diminution of the liberty of the 
clergy and the recognition of the state as superior to the 
church; at strengthening the sovereign power, over- 
riding the national institutions and the ancient and well- 
established privileges; at conferring political initiative 
on the Austrian governor-general of Belgium; at depriv- 
ing the Belgian nobility of any participation in political 
affairs; at recruiting public officers from among the 
jurists only; at avoiding any brutal attack upon the 
national institutions, but at undermining them in a 
secret manner. It cannot be denied, however, that the 
Austrian government did its best to restore the material 
welfare of the country; and the manufacturing and 
agricultural interests were fostered by two Austrian 



134 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

ministers, both of Italian nationality, Antoniotto di Botta 
Adorno, under Maria Theresa, and Count Giovanni 
Giacomo di Belgiojoso, during the reign of Joseph II. 

This Emperor had a sincere desire to promote the 
material welfare of the Belgian people, and it is a histori- 
cal fact that at the beginning of his reign he visited 
Belgium incognito, accompanied by one of his ministers, 
in order to examine into everything himself and to take 
such measures as he might find to be necessary. Unfortu- 
nately he was somewhat of an idealist, imbued with the 
theories of the French philosophy of the eighteenth 
century and the teachings of "Febronianism." 

France was at this time the center of an intellectual 
and moral current, which exerted a powerful influence on 
the courts and the higher classes of all Europe. The social, 
philosophical, economical, and governmental doctrines 
of the Encyclopaedists and the Physiocrats attacked the 
basis of the existing society. They proposed the creation 
of an entirely new social and political order, breaking with 
tradition, and conceived of as independent of any Christian 
idea. On the other hand, the doctrines of the superiority 
of the state over the church were already promulgated, 
since Van Espen, a Belgian jurist of the seventeenth 
century, had supported them. They were codified in 
1763 by Febronius, the suffragan bishop of Treves, who 
developed them to the extreme limit. He proposed 
breaking up the Catholic church into national churches, 
under the supervision of the state. His book had an 
immense success at the German courts, even those of the 
ecclesiastical principalities. 

Joseph II had been converted to the ideas of the 
French Encyclopaedists and Physiocrats as well as to the 



BELGIUM UNDER THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA 135 

teachings of Febronianism. An absolutist by conviction, 
an enemy of the liberties of the church, despising all 
things of the past, and lacking in the adroitness which 
characterized Maria Theresa's government, he sought to 
put in force without delay the new concept of human 
society that he had conceived. He tried to force upon 
Belgium a whole series of reforms, by means of sovereign 
decrees, between the years 1781 and 1787. The funda- 
mental ideas at the basis of these reforms may be sum- 
marized as follows: the secularization of political society; 
the incorporation of the Catholic church in Belgium as a 
part of the national Austrian church; and the recognition 
of the sovereign power as absolute and unlimited. 

The political secularization of Belgium was attempted 
by the Edicts of Tolerance, issued in 1781-82. The 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction was suppressed; non-Catholics 
were put upon nearly the same level as Catholics, and 
public worship was permitted to them under certain 
restrictions. Subject to a dispensation from the sover- 
eign, they were admitted to public offices and could 
become burgesses and members of craft-guilds. In 1784 
another edict fixed new rules for marriages, and prevented 
the ecclesiastical judge from dealing with the canonical 
impediments declared by canon law. 

As for the subordination of the church to the state, the 
religious orders were no longer allowed to show obedience 
to their foreign superiors; the jurisdiction of the Nuncio 
of Cologne over Belgium was abolished; the Belgian 
bishops were forbidden to correspond with Rome on the 
matter of dispensations for marriages; a large number of 
convents were declared to be useless and were suppressed, 
their properties being placed under the administration of 



136 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

the state; parishes were delimited by the government; all 
the confraternities of a religious nature were suppressed 
and replaced by a single one, which the Emperor- 
Philosopher called the " Brotherhood of Love for Fellow- 
Creatures/ ' All the seminaries for the education of 
priests were closed, and in 1786 a General Seminary was 
established at Louvain and in Luxemburg, at which 
theology was to be taught, subject to the control of the 
state. A very drastic measure was the suppression of any 
subsidy to the society of the Bollandists, the Belgian 
Jesuits who were responsible for the criticism and the 
publication of the Lives of the Saints, and who were known 
all over Europe for their scientific methods and their 
superior culture. 

In 1787 came the upheaval of the political institutions. 
The three " collateral councils" — the Council of State, 
the Privy Council, and the Council of Finances — were 
abolished. The Secretary of State, the provincial states, 
the provincial councils of justice, the seigniorial or manorial 
justice, the jurisdiction of the echevinage, the ecclesiastical 
tribunals, the special tribunal of the University of Louvain 
which had jurisdiction over offenses committed by stu- 
dents, and all other courts of justice except the military 
tribunals, were at one stroke suppressed. Joseph II, by a 
simple act of his sovereign will, wiped out the old institu- 
tions and introduced the Austrian autocracy. 

But the Belgians, who had always fought against the 
enemies of their institutions and privileges, did not submit 
peacefully to this brutal attack upon their liberties. Of 
course, many of the reforms of the Emperor were not open 
to criticism, and his motives cannot be said to have been 
wholly wrong. His efforts, however, were too general in 



BELGIUM UNDER THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA 137 

their nature, and were attended with too far-reaching 
results. At first there was only passive resistance. The 
bishops had begun by protesting against the religious 
reforms. The general edicts of 1787 called forth a storm 
of revolt among all classes of the people. Declarations, 
petitions, manifestos poured in upon the Emperor's 
court. The edicts of 1787 were thereupon partly sus- 
pended. But the religious reforms were not abated. 
The establishment of the General Seminary and the order 
for the closing of the diocesan seminaries were not 
rescinded, and force was resorted to against the Arch- 
bishop of Malines, Frankenberg, and the University of 
Louvain in carrying them out. This shocked the Belgian 
people, who at heart were Catholic, and the harsh meas- 
ures of the Austrian General D' Alton made the situation 
still more critical. Two parties came into existence: 
that of the nationalists, called "Patriots/' and that of 
the Austrian sympathizers, called by the people "Figs." 
In 1788, owing to the resistance of the states of Brabant 
and Hainaut, the arrest of their members and the abolition 
of the privileges of Brabant, among them the famous 
"Joyeuse Entree/' were ordered. General D'Alton be- 
came more and more dictatorial and cruel. The result 
was a serious revolution, known in history as the Braban- 
tine Revolution (1789). 

The revolt was the consequence of two elements among 
the people, which though at heart directly opposed to each 
other were temporarily united against the foreign tyranny. 
Each movement had its own leader, Van der Noot and 
Vonck, and both were lawyers of Brabant. Van der Noot 
proposed to deliver Belgium by the assistance of foreign 
powers, especially Prussia — the enemy of Austria — and 



138 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

Holland. Vonck, on the other hand, placed his confidence 
in the Belgians alone, and told the people that the great 
powers would betray them. Both were forced to flee 
the country in order to escape the anger of General 
D'Alton. Both established committees for revolutionary 
propaganda, Van der Noot in Holland, where he estab- 
lished connections in Prussia; Vonck in the territory of 
the principality of Liege. Later both committees suc- 
ceeded in agreeing upon a common plan of action. Like 
William the Silent in the sixteenth century, Van der Noot 
issued a manifesto proclaiming the deposition of Joseph II 
as sovereign of the Austrian Netherlands. A national 
army, recruited on foreign soil, invaded Belgium. The 
Austrians were defeated and compelled to evacuate the 
country, except Luxemburg, where they made a stand. 
The victors then proclaimed a republic, known in history 
under the official title of the "Republique des Etats 
Belgiques unis" (Republic of the United States of 
Belgium). In each province the body of the states — 
delegates of the clergy, the nobility, and the people — were 
given the exercise of sovereignty, and the traditional 
institutions of the Burgundian times were restored. In 
1790 the provinces held a general meeting at Brussels, 
where the federal pact between them and the central 
power was established by the so-called Act of Union. 

According to this act, the provinces of the Catholic 
Netherlands constituted themselves a confederation, 
under that name. The confederation exercised sovereign 
power, and controlled the common defense, the power of 
making war and peace, the recruiting and maintaining 
of a national army, the making of alliances, the coinage of 
a common currency. The power residing in the confeder- 




THE TOWN HALL OF BRUSSELS AND THE GREAT SQUARE 



BELGIUM UNDER THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA 139 

ation was exercised by a Congress composed of deputies 
from all the provinces, who acted without referring back 
to the provincial states. Each province had a certain 
number of votes in the Congress: Brabant 20 votes, 
Flanders 22, etc. The confederated provinces made a 
declaration favoring the Roman Catholic faith and the 
maintenance of relations with the church as before the 
reforms of Joseph II. Each province retained its auton- 
omy and sovereign rights, and all powers not delegated 
to the Congress. In case of attack all provinces were 
to join in the defense of the one attacked. This, we 
know, had been the dream of Emperor Charles V in the 
sixteenth century. The great ruler must have rejoiced 
in his grave! The Congress was presided over by a 
president, who held office for a limited period, and three 
committees were created within the Congress: one for 
political, one for military, and one for financial affairs. 
The president was assisted by a prime minister and a 
secretary of state. 

It is hardly necessary to call attention to the fact that 
there is a very close resemblance between the constitu- 
tion of the Belgian Republic and the first constitution of 
the American Republic, whose articles were approved 
in 1777. The question whether the Belgian Patriots were 
in any way inspired by the first American constitution 
remains unsettled, as it has not yet been studied in 
this light. 

Alas! the "Republique des Etats Belgiques unis" did 
not live long. Internal struggles between partisans of 
Vonck, who fell more and more under the influence of 
the French revolutionary clubs and talked much about 
national assemblies and popular sovereignty, and the 



140 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

partisans of the more conservative Van der Noot paved 
the way for the final collapse. But the bitterest disap- 
pointment came from outside. The great powers — 
England, Holland, and Prussia — which had liberally 
encouraged the Patriots in their revolt because of its 
tendency to weaken Austria and to prevent her policy of 
extension in the east of Europe toward Constantinople, 
betrayed the young republic. Their support of the Bel- 
gian claims had been inspired by the idea of the Euro- 
pean balance of power, but they cared little for the 
independence of the country. The conference held at 
Reichenbach, in which England, Prussia, Holland, and 
Austria participated merely resulted in a decision to 
restore Austrian rule in Belgium, with guaranties for the 
maintenance of the ancient institutions and an amnesty 
for the past. The Treaty of the Hague (1790) definitely 
settled the question. Thus died the Belgian republic 
after a year of existence, but it had not existed in vain. 
The Treaty of the Hague gave constitutional value to 
facts and principles which hitherto had depended only 
on the good will of the sovereign. Emperor Leopold II 
again occupied the " Austrian Netherlands"; but the 
new Austrian rule was to have as short an existence as 
had the Belgian republic. The French Revolution was 
destined to drive the Austrians out of Belgium. 



CHAPTER XI 

BELGIUM UNDER FRENCH DOMINATION 
(1792-1814) 

The French revolutionary clubs had exerted a power- 
ful influence on Vonck. The effect of their teachings 
had also been felt in the independent principality of 
Liege and had provoked a rising of the people against the 
bishop-prince. But the revolt of Liege, which occurred 
at the same time as the revolt in Belgium against Joseph II 
(1789), was quickly suppressed. 

When France itself fell a victim to the revolutionary 
leaders, the great Revolution broke loose. The French 
soon found themselves confronted by a European coalition 
and were forced into war. Since Austria was inimical to 
the Revolution, the French troops invaded the Belgian 
possessions of the Hapsburgs in 1792 under the leader- 
ship of General Dumouriez. They found not a few 
sympathizers in the country. The partisans of Van der 
Noot looked to the French to deliver them from the 
Austrian yoke; the partisans of Vonck had always been 
agents of the French revolutionary leaders, and desired the 
annexation of their country to France. After the victory 
of Jemappes (1792), the French entered Belgium, loudly 
proclaiming that they came as liberators of the people and 
desired only the destruction of Austrian tyranny. Al- 
though the excesses of their troops seemed to contradict 
this statement, the people believed them. Then came the 
second and final defeat of the Austrians at the battle of 
Fleurus (1794). Both Belgium and the principality of 
Liege were occupied by the victors. 

141 



142 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

A period of terrible excesses followed. The French 
National Convention entirely abolished all the ancient 
institutions; a provisional administration was established, 
and " clubs " with political aims were introduced into all 
the cities. Taxes, requisitions, systematic pillage, out- 
rages on religious convictions rained upon the unhappy 
inhabitants. General elections were forced upon the 
Belgians and manipulated by the " Sans-culottes " and 
political agents so as to give the impression of a referen- 
dum, through which the people should express their 
desire to be annexed to France. This plan encountered 
general hostility throughout the country. Thereupon the 
National Convention, by a law voted and applied on 
October 1, 1795, simply annexed Belgium and the princi- 
pality of Liege. As Austria was too weak to defend her 
possessions, it formally ceded the Austrian Netherlands 
to France and recognized the annexation by the Treaty of 
Campo Formio (1797). 

The French now treated the conquered territory with 
great harshness. The followers of the Catholic religion 
were severely persecuted, the churches were closed, the 
priests were sentenced to death or deported to French 
Guiana and to the islands of Re and Oleron, the Catholic 
worship was suppressed and replaced by that of the 
" Goddess of Reason." For the first time in Belgian 
history military conscription was forced upon the inhab- 
itants, and the youth of the country was compelled to 
shed its blood on foreign battlefields for a regime it 
abhorred. 

This naturally stirred up bitter resentment; and, even 
as they had risen against Joseph II, so a part at least of the 
Belgians rose against the French. This revolt is known 



BELGIUM UNDER FRENCH DOMINATION 143 

as the War of the Peasants (1798-99), because it was 
mainly the people of the countryside in Flanders, Campine, 
and Luxemburg who fought in defense of their hearths and 
their religion. They fought heroically with old weapons, 
scythes, pikes, and guns of old pattern, under the leader- 
ship of a few nobles and burgesses. There is a close 
resemblance between their struggle and that of the French 
peasants in the Vendee. But what could they accomplish 
against the well-equipped armies of the Republic ? The 
egotism of the educated classes, which gave them no sup- 
port at all, and their lack of training and experience, soon 
brought their valiant resistance to an inglorious end. 
One after another their bands were exterminated, and 
those who did not fall on the battlefield died against a wall 
by the bullets of a firing squad. 

Their gallantry did not save the country. Belgium 
remained fifteen years longer under French domination. 
The Concordat concluded in 1801 between Pope Pius VII 
and Napoleon Bonaparte brought the religious persecu- 
tion to an end, and the Catholic worship was restored. 
When Bonaparte had become Emperor Napoleon I, the 
glory which surrounded his name made a profound 
impression on the Belgians, and the great Emperor became 
very popular among them. Antwerp attracted all his 
attention; and it is due to him that the Scheldt, after a 
century and a half of being closed, was again opened to 
trade and was freed from the tyrannous control of the 
Dutch. As military conscription still prevailed, the 
Belgians filled the ranks of the imperial army, and their 
blood was shed for the fame and the power of Napoleon 
all over Europe. The conqueror left on the country, 
however, the impress of his spirit of organization in the 



/ 



144 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

famous Code Napoleon, that monument of civil law that 
still forms the basis of Belgian jurisprudence. The spell 
of his name appeared from the fact that after the defeat 
of his armies at Leipzig in 1813 there was no revolt against 
him in Belgium as there was in Holland. 

The fall of Napoleon ended the French domination of 
the Belgians (1814). However, the diplomats who re- 
arranged the map of Europe, while the once mighty 
Emperor was sent to St. Helena, had determined that 
the country was not to be restored to its former politi- 
cal status. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE DUTCH RULE AND THE BELGIAN REVOLT 

OF 1830 

After the fall of Napoleon, the powers were called 
upon to decide the political status of Belgium. The 
Belgians were not consulted in the matter, vitally impor- 
tant as it was, and their country was considered merely 
as the spoil of the Allies. The main idea that actuated 
the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) in rearranging the map 
of Europe was to prevent a new menace from the side of 
France. This country was not allowed to hold more 
territory than it possessed in 1789, before the outbreak 
of the Revolution; at the same time the Allies who had 
defeated Napoleon sought to erect a bulwark against 
any new extension of France in the North. They could 
have granted independence to Belgium, but as the country 
was weak it seemed that independence would mean 
reabsorption by France. The final settlement of this 
important question resulted, therefore, in the formation 
of the new Kingdom of the Netherlands, whereby both 
Belgium and Holland, united under the same sovereign, 
would, it was expected, present a sufficiently strong 
barrier against France. The new kingdom was declared 
also to be neutral territory. This is the first time that 
the conception of neutrality was realized with regard to 
a buffer-state in Western Europe, located between Eng- 
land, France, and Germany. But the conception of 
neutrality, as applied to the Netherlands, is much older 
than the Congress of Vienna; and it seems worth while 

145 



146 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

to trace the different schemes dealing with Belgian neu- 
trality before the years 1814-15. 1 

The idea of establishing the neutrality of the Nether- 
lands goes back in history as far as the government of 
Maria of Hungary, at the time of Emperor Charles V. 
The former proposed the neutrality of the Belgian prov- 
inces on February 8, 1536, in order that they might 
escape being made the battlefield of Europe during the 
impending international conflicts. Charles V refused 
to consider the scheme, as he himself was planning to 
raise the Netherlands into an independent kingdom, to 
be governed by the son of Francis I, King of France. 
This plan, of course, was never carried out. 

In 1634 France and Holland concluded a special treaty 
against Spain, by which the Netherlands should either 
become an independent kingdom or be divided between 
the contracting powers. Cardinal Richelieu, the French 
minister, preferred the idea of an independent Belgium, 
and went so far as to propose that this kingdom should 
be permanently neutral. In that way the cornerstone 
of Spanish power in Europe would have been destroyed. 
Although neutral, Belgium would have had the right to 
conclude offensive alliances, but would not enjoy the 
benefit of having the integrity of its territory guaranteed. 
If that scheme had been carried out, the Belgians would 
have had to revolt against Spanish rule. But the Bel- 
gians, owing to the presence of strong Spanish armies 
within their borders, did not revolt. The plan of Riche- 
lieu failed. His scheme was, however, taken over by 
Cardinal Mazarin, minister of Louis XIV. Mazarin had 

1 See R. Dollot, Les Origines de la neutrality de la Belgique et le systeme 
de la Barribre (1609-1830), Paris, 1902. 



DUTCH RULE AND THE BELGIAN REVOLT 147 

first suggested the annexation of Belgium by France, but 
he met with strong opposition on the part of Holland and 
England, both interested in keeping the French menace 
from extending right to their own doors. Changing 
his mind, Mazarin, in 1658, reverted to Richelieu's plan 
concerning the creation of an independent and neutral 
Belgium. This proposal met with the strong opposi- 
tion of the Dutch " Staatspensionnaris " De Witt, who 
expressed the fear that such a state would ruin Dutch 
trade — an independent Belgium would necessarily be 
given a free Scheldt. He also made it clear that Holland 
could not forego her right to meddle in the affairs of the 
Catholic Netherlands, and that the idea of a common 
protectorate over them would be welcome. Mazarin 
seems not to have been sincere when proposing his plan. 
It may be inferred that his main object was to quiet the 
fear of Holland that the French and the English would 
use Belgium as a base during their operations against 
Spain. 

When the Treaty of the Barriers (1715) threatened to 
impose upon Belgium the Dutch garrisons which were 
maintained for protection against France, the latter 
presented (February 17) a memoir to Holland, again 
proposing the status of permanent neutrality for Belgium. 
The egotism and ill-will of the Dutch defeated this pro- 
posal. They would never have consented to the opening 
of the Scheldt, which was a necessary condition for an 
independent Belgium. Their policy on this point is made 
clear by the declaration of the States-General of the 
United Provinces, when Emperor Joseph II, in 1756, 
endeavored to obtain the opening of the Scheldt and free 
shipping on the river. The States-General declared that 



148 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

"the salvation or the loss of the Republic and its inhabit- 
ants depended upon this point." 

When the Revolution of the Belgians against Austrian 
rule broke out in 1789, the Elector Frederick- William of 
Prussia tried in vain to obtain from the other powers, 
England and Holland, the recognition of the Belgian 
Republic. He proposed that they should recognize the 
independence of Belgium and compel the Belgians "to 
establish a firm, strong constitution, in conformity with 
the interests of the Allies . . . . ; to create, subject to 
the advice of the Allies, a respectable military state that 
would inspire confidence; to avoid alliances with powers, 
enemies of the Allies, and also trade with them." 

As Prussia was ready to make war on Austria, her 
hereditary enemy, Emperor Leopold II declared that he 
would, in case of war, cede the "Austrian Netherlands" 
to France. This England could not have permitted, and 
therefore that country withdrew support from Prussia, 
causing the Elector Frederick- William to abandon his 
plan concerning Belgium. 

The French conquest of Belgium entirely changed the 
policy of the European powers with regard to the Belgian 
problem. England now saw the French menace facing 
her own shores, and, according to her traditional policy, 
began to take measures to avoid the danger. On Novem- 
ber 13, 1813, Lord Castlereagh wrote to the English 
ambassador in Vienna: "I must particularly recommend 
you to pay attention to Antwerp Leaving Ant- 
werp in the hands of France means, or almost means, 
imposing on us the necessity of a continuous state of war." 
I It was now England that was specially interested in the 
future status of Belgium, and it is from that country that 



DUTCH RULE AND THE BELGIAN REVOLT 149 

emanated the idea, forcibly expressed, of establishing 

a strong bulwark against France by the creation of the^ 

neutral kingdom of the Netherlands. The idea, supported 

by Prussia, which, as we have seen, had advocated it 

some years before, was, however, this time expressed by 

Lord Castlereagh; and the aggrandizement of Holland 

by its union with Belgium was strongly supported by the 

Duke of Wellington. Accordingly, on July 31, 1814, 

the Belgian provinces were formally handed over to the 

Prince of Orange, whom the Dutch had made their 

sovereign the year before. The arrangement was con-~\ 

v 
firmed by the Congress of Vienna, and made to include 

Liege and Luxemburg. 

The union of Belgium and Holland was the work of 
diplomacy: the Belgians had not even been consulted. 
It was an essentially bad combination. Had the " com- 
plete and intimate fusion," of which the diplomats spoke, 
been possible between both countries, the projectors 
would have accomplished an admirable work, offering 
the surest guaranties for the maintenance of European 
peace and the durability of their own fabric. But 
unfortunately the conception was Utopian. 

Independently of the fact that the Allies disdained to 
consult the feelings of the Belgian people, they appeared to 
have lost sight of the moral history of the Netherlands, and 
to have forgotten those deep-rooted hatreds, jealousies, 
and dissensions, both religious and political, that had 
divided the tw T o peoples since the time of their separation 
in the sixteenth century. Count Charles Van Hoogen- 
dorp, a prominent member of the Dutch chamber, in a 
pamphlet entitled Separation de la Hollande et de la Bel- 
gique, October, 1830 (Amsterdam), himself acknowledged 



150 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

the lack of sympathy between these peoples: "The differ- 
ence of national character had engendered grievances, 
and these grievances had excited universal discontent, 
and national animosity. The division between the two 
countries existed de facto. Instead of a fusion, all the 
means employed to amalgamate the two people had only 
served to disunite them still further. This discontent 
was not the birth of a day; it dates from the first union 
of the two states." 

After peace had been restored in 1815, when Napoleon 
had suffered defeat at Waterloo, difficulties began at 
once. In March, 1814, Holland had adopted a consti- 
tution. Inspired by the old laws of the United Provinces, 
it was in the main strongly Protestant. Eleven Dutch, 
eleven Belgians, and two delegates representing Luxem- 
burg were appointed to transform this constitution into 
one that could be applied to the new kingdom of the 
Netherlands. The commission proposed the introduc- 
tion of equality and toleration for all creeds throughout 
the kingdom, and the creation of a two-chambered Par- 
liament in which Holland and Belgium were to have an 
equal number of representatives, although the Belgians 
had 50 per cent more population. No national capital 
was specified, but the King was to be invested both 
at Amsterdam and at some city in Belgium. On these 
principles a fundamental constitution was drafted and sub- 
mitted contemporaneously to the Dutch States-General 
and to the notables of the different Belgian provinces. The 
Dutch passed it unanimously; the Belgians rejected it by 
a vote of 1,603 to 527. This rejection was partly due to 
the unwillingness of the Belgian notables to legalize reli- 
gious equality. The Dutch King, William I, decided to 



DUTCH RULE AND THE BELGIAN REVOLT 151 

meet the difficulty in a simple manner. He announced 
that all who had abstained from voting should be counted 
as voting for the act, and that the 126 hostile votes still 
remaining as a majority against the act after counting in 
its favor those refraining from voting should not count, 
as the principle of religious liberty had been imposed by 
the Congress of Vienna and had to be observed. This 
method, which the Belgians called "Dutch arithmetic," 
gave to the act 933 votes in its favor as against 670 
hostile votes, and it was declared passed. 

It became more and more clear that William I was not 
"the right man in the right place": he was too Prot- 
estant, too Dutch, too autocratic for the Belgians. The 
latter soon complained of new grievances, among which 
the following were the most important : the imposition of 
the Dutch language upon all functionaries, whether civil 
or military, without granting time to learn it to those who 
could not speak it; the extreme partiality shown in the 
distribution of all offices and emoluments; and a financial 
system that bore heavily and unjustly on Belgium. The 
Belgians were made to contribute to the payment of 
debts incurred by Holland long prior to the union, and 
to pay for the defense of the Dutch colonies, which yielded 
them no returns at all. The Haute Cour, or supreme 
court of justice, and all other great public institutions 
were established in Holland. The religious grievances 
were also numerous: the government was ill disposed 
toward the Catholics, and it was supposed that it desired 
to "Protestantize" the people. Since 1815, the Belgian 
bishops, under the leadership of Monsignor de Broglie, 
bishop of Ghent, had dissuaded their flocks from taking 
the oath to a constitution that introduced liberty of 



152 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

worship. Moreover, in 1825, William I, imitating the 
plan formerly developed by Joseph II, had established 
a Philosophic College at Louvain where all priests would 
receive their education; and, claiming the monopoly for 
the state in educational matters, had suppressed the 
episcopal and other national colleges and free schools. 
Sundry oppressive taxes, repugnant to the habits and 
usages of the people, were imposed. The freedom of the 
press was destroyed, and journalists were continually 
prosecuted before the tribunals. The King even pressed 
into service ignominious French pamphleteers, expelled 
from their own country, who daily insulted the Belgians. 

This was too much for the descendants of those who 
had fought the tyrannies of Spain, Austria, and France. 
Public opinion became excited, and in 1828 a union was 
concluded between the Catholics, partisans of tradition, 
and the Liberals, who had adopted the ideas of the French 
Revolution. Threatened in their common interests and 
privileges, Catholics and Liberals worked together to obtain 
redress of their grievances and to defend their liberties. 

Like Joseph II, the Dutch King refused to hear their 
complaints, and continued to offend the Belgian people. 
In 1830 an event of great importance fanned the revolt 
into flame. 1 In July the people of Paris overthrew the 
French legitimist monarchy and the government of 
Charles X. Just as the Brabant Revolution of 1789 was 
inspired in the first instance by events in Paris and by 
the fall of the Bastille, so the " July days" gave the final 
impulse to the Belgians in August. On the evening of 
August 25, the Brussels Opera House gave a performance 

1 The history of the establishment of Belgian independence is well 
described by Ensor, Belgium, pp. 123 ff., whom we largely follow in the 
narration of the revolution. 



DUTCH RULE AND THE BELGIAN REVOLT 153 

of Auber's La Muette de Portici. When the hero of the 
piece sang the famous air appealing for revolt and liberty, 
the effect on the emotions of his hearers was such as to 
cause them to rush into the streets and then and there 
inaugurate a revolt against the Dutch. They sacked the 
house of Van Maenen, the unpopular minister of William 
I, and that of Libri, the editor of the official governmental 
newspaper, and attacked the homes of many against 
whom hatred had long been growing. A guard of citizens 
was raised to maintain order and a Committee of Regency 
was established in the Hotel de Ville. The French tri- 
color, which had first been hoisted — and this proves the 
interference of French clubs at the beginning of the 
Revolution— was replaced by the old Brabant tricolor 
(black, yellow, red), which is now the Belgian flag. The 
other chief towns followed and confined their Dutch 
garrisons within the citadels and forts. Meanwhile 
a deputation was sent to the King, to petition for the 
administrative separation of Belgium and Holland, 
retaining, however, their personal union. William I, 
unaware of the gravity of the situation, paid scarcely any 
attention to the delegates. He sent a Dutch army nearly 
10,000 strong, with many guns, under Prince Frederick, 
his younger son, to attack Brussels, where the revolu- 
tionists held the lower town. The troops fought their 
way to the very heart of the upper town, but were 
stopped at the Place Royale by the stubborn resistance 
of the Belgian volunteers. These were merely Brussels 
citizens, reinforced by 300 volunteers from Liege under 
Charles Rogier, 200 from Louvain, with Jenneval, author 
of the "Brabangonne," 1 and others from various Walloon 

1 As is well known, the " Brabanconne " became the national anthem. 



154 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

towns. For three days there was terrible street fighting, 
and on the night of September 26-27 Prince Frederick, 
with at least 1,500 killed and many wounded, admitted 
his defeat and left Brussels. Meanwhile a provisional 
government had been established, composed of Baron 
d'Hoogvorst, the commander of the volunteers; Charles 
Rogier, who afterward became the Belgian prime minister; 
Count Felix de Merode; Van de Weyer, afterward Bel- 
gian minister in London; Gendebien, the leader of the 
French party among the revolutionists, Joly, and De 
Potter. On October 4, 1830, this provisional govern- 
ment declared Belgium an independent state, and an- 
nounced its intention of preparing a constitution which 
was to be approved and adopted by a national congress. 
A special commission decided, on October 12, in favor 
of a constitutional monarchy. The final decree of the 
congress establishing this constitution as law was voted 
on February 7, 1831. 

The basis of the new Belgian constitution consisted 
of the charters and privileges of the different Belgian 
provinces and cities, which dated from the Middle Ages, 
and especially the " Joyeuse Entree' ' of Brabant, of which 
mention has already been made. Other liberties, required 
by the spirit of modern times, were added: equality of 
all the Belgians before the law; freedom of worship, of 
the press, of association, of educational teaching, and 
the right to vote was accorded to all Belgians who paid 
a certain amount in taxes. 

Some time after the provisional government had 
declared Belgium an independent state a conference of 
the powers was held, on November 4, 1830, in London, 
to consider the new situation created by the Belgian 



DUTCH RULE AND THE BELGIAN REVOLT 155 

revolt: Van der Weyer was sent to represent the Belgian 
interests. On December 20, a motion made by the 
British delegate, Lord Palmerston, was adopted, which 
declared Belgium an " independent power." The victory 
of the revolutionists was thus confirmed. At the same 
time, the plan of a small but active party among them, 
who had attempted the reannexation of the country to 
France, was defeated. 

Another important question was now to be settled — 
the choice of a monarch for the new kingdom. The 
Belgian congress excluded the candidacy of the Prince 
of Orange, who was favored by England and Prussia, 
since the accession of this prince would mean practically 
reannexation by Holland. Under the influence of the 
French sympathizers, led by Gendebien, of the provisional 
government, and by its president, Surlet de Chokier, the 
Belgian congress decided to offer the crown to the Duke 
of Nemours, younger son of the French King, Louis- 
Philippe. This scheme could not be acceded to by Eng- 
land, since Belgium would then have been under the direct 
influence of France. The English ministry, on Febru- 
ary 4, unanimously resolved to declare war on France if 
Louis-Philippe accepted the offer. So the French King 
was compelled to decline it on behalf of his son. Finally, 
on June 4, 1831, the Belgian congress elected Prince 
Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha, widower of the Princess 
Charlotte of England. Leopold had fought gallantly 
in the army of the Allies against Napoleon in 1813 and 
1814, and had just refused the crown of Greece. He was 
solemnly inaugurated at Brussels on June 21 as King of 
the Belgians. He was considered an English prince, and 
for the moment France resented his election; but Leopold 



156 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

quieted the jealousy of Louis-Philippe by marrying the 
daughter of the French King, Louise of Orleans. 

Another question to be settled was the delimitation of 
the boundaries of the new kingdom. On January 20 and 
27, the Conference of London had issued two protocols, 
proposing that Belgium be made a perpetually neutral 
state; that Holland take all the territory that belonged 
to the Dutch republic in 1790, and that the Grand 
Duchy of Luxemburg become an appanage of the house 
of Orange; that Belgium should be charged with ^f of 
the national debt of the former United Kingdom of the 
Netherlands. 

These protocols, favorable to Holland, were immedi- 
ately accepted by the Dutch King, but unequivocally 
rejected by the Belgians. The second article of the 
London protocols robbed them of Dutch Flanders — the 
north of the ancient county — of the towns of Maestricht 
and Venloo and the strip of Limburg surrounding them, 
and also of the Grand Duchy, a part of the old Belgian 
province of Luxemburg. The loss of this territory seemed 
the more unjust as the inhabitants of those regions had 
participated in the Belgian revolt and did not desire 
annexation by Holland. 

The negotiations between the powers and the Belgians 
would never have reached a settlement but for King 
Leopold. The Belgian King persuaded the Conference 
of London to supersede its protocols by a declaration in 
eighteen articles, leaving the matter in dispute to be 
directly negotiated between Leopold and William of 
Holland, with the good offices of the great powers. The 
Dutch King refused to recognize the eighteen articles 
and, on August 2, twelve days after the accession to the 



DUTCH RULE AND THE BELGIAN REVOLT 157 

throne of Leopold, invaded Belgium. King Leopold dis- 
played military skill and courage, but the Belgians had 
no strong army and their ill-trained troops were badly 
defeated at Lou vain and at Hasselt. Impending dis- 
aster was prevented by the sudden arrival of a French 
army, sent by Louis-Philippe, to whom the Belgian King 
had appealed for help. The French repulsed the Dutch. 
This intervention of France seriously alarmed the other 
powers, and especially England. Fearing that French 
influence might regain a foothold in the new kingdom, 
they precipitately drafted another protocol, called the 
Twenty-four Articles, in place of the former eighteen, and 
took from Belgium the whole of the area in dispute, 
except the district of Arlon, in Luxemburg. Again the 
Belgians refused to be stripped; but the threat of invasion 
by a German army finally compelled them to accede. On 
November 15, 1831, Belgium, France, and England signed 
the Treaty of the Twenty-four Articles, to which Russia, 
Prussia, and Austria soon afterward assented. 

This time Holland was unwilling to yield, and the 
Dutch refused to evacuate the territory they occupied, 
especially the citadel of Antwerp. A French army, 
under Gerard, marched for the second time into Belgium, 
besieged the Antwerp stronghold, and forced the Dutch 
to capitulate (1832). King William continued to refuse 
to subscribe to any agreement until 1838. Then, sud- 
denly, he gave his adherence to the Twenty-four Articles. 
The Conference of London met again and, on April 18, 
1839, the final Treaty of London was signed. The Bel- 
gians were given a large reduction in what was agreed 
should be their contribution to the debt of the Nether- 
lands, but were forced to surrender the territories agreed 



158 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

upon by the treaty of 1831. They did it very reluctantly, 
but had no other choice. 

This Treaty of London is the famous " scrap of paper' ' 
of which the German chancellor spoke so disdainfully on 
August 14, 1914. It settled the external relations of Bel- 
gium in Europe. By that treaty, Belgium was de- 
clared to be an independent kingdom and was to remain 
"a perpetually neutral state," under the guaranty of the 
five great powers. The neutrality of Belgium had been 
imposed upon the new kingdom at the instance chiefly 
of England, who desired above all to maintain it as a 
bulwark against France. As King Leopold I himself 
writes to Queen Victoria on February 15, 1852, "this 
neutrality was in the real interest of this country, but 
our good congress here did not wish it: it was impose 
upon them." 

Owing to the fact that so much has been said about 
the neutrality of Belgium since the beginning of the present 
European war, it seems worth while to explain briefly 
what ought to be understood by the words "permanent 
neutrality," used by the Conference of London. 1 

Article VII of the Treaty of London declares: "Bel- 
gium, within the limits specified in Articles I, II, and IV, 
shall form an independent and perpetually neutral state. 
It shall be bound to observe such neutrality toward all 
other states." A distinction must be made between the 
neutrality imposed by this article on Belgium and the 
occasional neutrality of a state, which during a war 
between other powers wishes to avoid the conflict and, 
in a perfectly voluntary manner, proclaims that decision 

1 See Em. Waxweiler, La Belgique neutre et loyale, pp. 45 ff., Paris, 
Lausanne, 1915; Ch. de Visscher, "The Neutrality of Belgium," Political 
Quarterly (1915), pp. 17-40. 



DUTCH RULE AND THE BELGIAN REVOLT 159 

to the world. In the European war of today, the United 
States of America is observing such an "occasional" 
neutrality. 

Permanent neutrality is quite another thing. History 
shows that there are certain countries, certain geographical 
zones, which, by virtue of their situation, are in some way 
predestined to become periodically the theater of struggles 
between nations. The subjection of such a country to 
the exclusive influence of one great power has always 
marked a breakdown of the European balance of power. 
The idea of placing these zones by means of a treaty in 
the position of countries outside the possible zone of 
international conflicts corresponds to a general plan of 
establishing a regime of peace on the basis of reciprocal 
and voluntary restriction of action. From this point of 
view, neutralization is essentially a factor for peace. It 
follows that the state which is perpetually neutral has 
not only its own individual meaning and independent 
mission, but is an important "wheel" in the general policy. 
This is the case with Belgium, as it was established by 
the great powers after the revolt of 1830, and that is the 
true meaning of the statement that it was to be "per- 
petually neutral." 

Between the neutralized state and the creators of its 
neutrality there thus exist reciprocal obligations. The 
contracting powers between them undertake engagements 
whereby they guarantee to the neutralized state the 
privileged condition of enjoying permanent peace; while 
on the other side, the neutralized state accepts the obli- 
gations which protect the European balance of power. 
In that way, each of the contracting powers is bound not 
to attack the neutral state; not to invite it to abandon 



160 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

its peaceful attitude; to defend it against any power, 
co-contracting or not, which would compel it to abandon 
its neutrality. The inviolability of the neutralized terri- 
tory is agreed upon by this means, for violation would 
mean for such a state a breach of its own neutrality. On 
the other hand, the neutralized state must itself defend 
its neutrality, and adopt all the measures needed for 
such defense. For this reason, international law holds 
that a neutralized state which commits an act of defense 
is not to be considered as being in state of war with the 
power which violates its neutrality. 1 Moreover, the neu- 
tral state must prevent troops or convoys of a belliger- 
ent power from passing through its territory. 2 Finally, 
such a state ought to remain a truly independent state, 
for if it places or allows itself to be placed in a position of 
dependence upon another power it destroys the European 
balance of power, the origin of its international status. 

Some authorities on international law 3 maintain that 
in case of violation of the neutral territory by a belli- 
gerent, the contracting powers have not only the right, 
but the duty, to interfere ex officio, and to protect the 
neutral state by military power, even without the consent 
of the latter. On this point, however, opinion is divided. 

Does the neutral possess the right to conclude alliances 
with a foreign power? This question is a little more 
difficult to determine exactly, but it may be settled in the 
following manner. Every alliance has in view the possi- 
bility of an armed conflict. It follows logically from this 
that the right of the neutral state to contract alliances 

1 Article 10 of the Hague Convention, October 18, 1907. 

2 Article 5 of the Hague Convention. 

3 Despagnee and De Boeck, Descamps, Hagerup, and Bltintschli. 



DUTCH RULE AND THE BELGIAN REVOLT 161 

corresponds very closely to its right of making war. If it 
is necessary to forbid such a state every alliance which 
would tend to draw it into an armed conflict with 
third parties, it ought to be granted without hesitation 
the right of concluding any understanding which should 
have for its sole object the protection of the nation against 
foreign aggression, And a defensive agreement tending to 
facilitate for the neutral state the carrying out of the part 
it is compelled to play in the maintenance of the European 
balance of power — the very basis of its neutrality — is 
certainly permissible, and, under certain circumstances, 
may even seem necessary; for example, when the neutral 
state seems too weak to resist by its own force a possibly 
powerful invasion. But it is obvious that the neutral 
state may never conclude either an offensive or a defensive 
alliance which would impose upon it the obligation of 
possible co-operation in the defense of a foreign territory. 
That is the true meaning of the permanent neutrality 
imposed on Belgium by the Treaty of London, and it 
will become clearer when we look at the subsequent facts 
of history. 

In 1870, on the eve of the Franco-German War, Bis- 
marck, with the object of alienating from France the 
sympathy of the neutral nations, and especially that of 
England, published a draft treaty, three or four years 
old, and in the handwriting of Napoleon Ill's ambassa- 
dor, whereby France was to annex Belgium. This publi- 
cation aroused public opinion in England, and, giving 
expression to English feeling, Disraeli told Parliament 
that "the treaties on which are based the independence 
and neutrality of Belgium" had been concluded in the 
general interest of Europe and also with a very clear idea of 



162 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

their importance for England. He added : " It is a funda- 
mental principle of the policy of this country, that the 
country situated along the coasts of Dunkirk to the North 
Sea islands should be possessed by free and prosperous 
states practising the arts of peace, in order that these coun- 
tries should not belong to a great military power. " In 
conformity with these declarations the English govern- 
ment proposed to France and to Prussia to observe the 
guaranty by way of co-operation between the English 
forces and the forces of one of the belligerents against the 
other in case of the violation by the latter of the neutral- 
ity of Belgium. This arrangement was accepted on both 
sides, and laid down in the formal treaties dated August 9 
and 11, 1870. Those special treaties were to be in force 
" during the war and for one year thereafter," and the 
final paragraph expressly stated that, after this period, the 
regulations of the Treaty of London (1839) should be 
regarded as in force. 1 This treaty it was that was thought 
to protect Belgium when the country's neutrality was 
violated by Germany on August 3, 1914. 

1 "At the expiration of this term [one year after the War of 1870] the 
independence and the neutrality of Belgium will continue to be based as 
before upon Article I of the quintuple Treaty of April 19, 1839." 



CHAPTER XIII 
INDEPENDENT BELGIUM 

In 1832 King Leopold I married Louise-Marie, daughter 
of the French King Louis-Philippe, who, through her 
womanly virtues, had made herself greatly beloved. The 
first Queen of the Belgians died in 1850, leaving three 
children: Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who afterward 
became King Leopold II; Philippe, Count of Flanders; 
and Charlotte, who married Archduke Maximilian of 
Austria. Under the patronage of Napoleon III, Maxi- 
milian was for some years Emperor of Mexico, and 2,000 
Belgian volunteers followed him into that country. 
Napoleon III abandoned him when political troubles 
broke out in Mexico, and, notwithstanding the stubborn 
resistance he offered to. the army of the Republicans,^ 
Maximilian fell into the hands of his enemies and was 
shot at Queretaro in 1867 by order of Juarez. As a result 
of this tragedy Empress Charlotte became insane. 

Meanwhile the first King of the Belgians had developed 
the economic resources of Belgium. He was determined 
in his policy of maintaining the permanent neutrality of 
the country, as imposed by the Treaty of London. He 
preserved very friendly relations with Queen Victoria of 
England, and the correspondence between the two sover- 
eigns shows that the first King of the Belgians would have 
found in her a mighty protector in the hour of trial. In a 
letter dated from Buckingham Palace in 1852, Queen 
Victoria, dealing with the fear of a coup d'etat on the part 
of "such an extraordinary man" as Louis-Napoleon — ■ 

163 



164 A SHOUT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

the future Napoleon III — asserted that any violation of 
Belgian neutrality would mean a casus belli for her 
government. 

How strongly the throne of Leopold I was established 
among his own people was shown by the fact that during 
the Revolution of 1848, which nearly resulted in the over- 
throw of all the thrones of Europe, Belgium alone kept 
herself aloof from the European turmoil, and some French 
adventurers who had tried to cross the frontier and, with 
the help of some unpatriotic Belgians, to proclaim a 
republic on Belgian soil, were quickly disarmed in the 
skirmish at Risquons-Tout, near Mouscron, in West 
Flanders. King Leopold consistently regarded himself 
as a constitutional king, and won thereby the confidence 
and the respect of the nation. During his reign Belgium 
gave many proofs of her spirit of enterprise and economic 
vitality. In 1835 she constructed the first railway that 
existed on the Continent, connecting Brussels and Malines. 
The country likewise prepared itself for defense against 
foreign invasion, and built the fortifications of Antwerp, 
making this city the ultimate bulwark of national defense. 
In 1860, the octrois, a sort of communal customs levied 
upon entering Belgian towns, were abolished; and in 
1863 the tolls of the Scheldt, paid to the Dutch by all 
vessels coming from Antwerp, were discontinued. 

From a political point of view the old union of 1828 be- 
tween Catholics and Liberals had disappeared. From 1847 
the personnel of the ministries was no longer composed 
of members of both parties, but of representatives of one 
party only, to the exclusion of those of the other. The 
Liberals were in power from 1847 to 1855; the Catholics 
followed, and they in turn retired before a street riot in 




• , J C-T'C* Cuufs6 jCe.<-crt. 4 



N P.TH 


M 


\ 






SEA jf 




E A 








iffj \fi << 


t *>\.. F L A ft 


^vj^^C^ 1 ^^^ = > / WM *w" r 


<■ 




0/ •;.. 






D 












f s 


H A i 




P- ' 




<; v-..$££<-,;v 




^ h N*w-y — <^ V ' H ^ y^-^i """"'" 


X 


/> 






* -'Moris V^ 4*&*\f\ (T !,V# '••.. in M 


to 






% a 


'•'"vt,M>. -^S ^ \ ^J^- •■(^ ^•'}' ••••</ 


^Z- 




i^J 


*">*? 


^3fj^,./- ; " ■ p,j3^cT . ■'■ In *k.. : . . 'f; { 


y z 




j + 






X 


MODERN 




^ 




v ^ 


BELCIUM 


BffOTM 






(iburc ( ^y 


*.,~*.y. ' . „ 






>N ^%\ to*-. 


y^/j V /U t 


%r;~,4 — - 






^ '"% ,^J ^ 


' 1 ri 


fi*Zi*in.s 


* 






J-% / ^ 


T/iz. ZZtZ/sfZ 


if 




^| • W'J 


"it < 








;; ls^<-. 


^ <A^~. 



4fc- fc£ 



INDEPENDENT BELGIUM 165 

1857; the Liberals again held power throughout the reign 
of Leopold I. The first King of the Belgians died on 
December 10, 1865. 

The Duke of Brabant succeeded him under the name 
of Leopold II. Born on April 9, 1835, in 1853 he married 
Marie-Henriette, Archduchess of Austria, who died in 
1902. The only son of this marriage, the Count of 
Hainaut, died at the age of ten years, in 1869. 

During the reign of Leopold II, both Catholics and 
Liberals came, in turn, into power, the Liberals from 1857 
to 1870; the Catholics from 1870 to 1878; the Liberals 
again until 1884. Since that time a Catholic ministry 
has ruled the destinies of the nation. For the first time 
the Socialist party gained a foothold in Parliament 
through the elections of 1894. 

The material conditions of Belgium — its trade and in- 
dustry — enjoyed unusual development under Leopold II. 
This sovereign endeavored to place Belgian capital in 
large industrial and commercial enterprises all over the 
world, and it was during his reign that the Belgians 
obtained recognition and influence in China, South 
America, and Persia. His solicitude for the welfare of 
Antwerp is well known, as well as his strong policy in 
favor of the development of the military organization of 
Belgium. The forts on the Meuse were his work, and 
the characteristic remark which he made when taunting 
a member of the Belgian Parliament for opposing the 
contemplated fortification is well known: " Never go 
out without an umbrella, Sir!" The reform and the 
increase of the Belgian army was also largely due to 
Leopold II; and the importance he attached to this 
matter made him very unpopular in many quarters, 



166 A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM 

where opposition existed to what was termed "mili- 
tarism." His reign cannot yet strictly be said to belong 
to history, as he died in December, 1910. In 1885, by 
the Congress of Berlin, the European powers had recog- 
nized the Congo as an independent state under the 
sovereignty of the Belgian King. After his death it 
became, by a vote of the Belgian Parliament, a national 
colony. 

And the present King of the Belgians, His Majesty 
Albert I, is now the young hero for whom all the countries 
of the world, except perhaps those whose rulers are his 
enemies, have, since the beginning of the European 
war, come to entertain a lively admiration and respect. 
He is well termed "the knight without fear and without 
reproach." 



EPILOGUE 

At the present writing Belgium is involved in the 
fearful struggle that has set the world aflame. In respect 
to Belgium, many facts of this war have already been 
placed bej^ond dispute as much as any fact of history 
can be. 1 Nevertheless, it is not our task to deal with 
her heroic resistance to the violation of her neutrality, 
her sufferings, and her sorrows. These are not yet history. 
But, whatever may be the result of the war which the 
country is now waging for liberty, let us at least remember 
two facts which will shed light on the future. The first 
is that England, now supported by France, Russia, and 
Italy, undoubtedly recalls the words spoken by Disraeli 
in 1870, asserting — to quote them once more — that "it 
is a fundamental principle of the policy of this country 
that the country situated along the coasts of Dunkirk to 
the North Sea islands should be possessed by free and 
prosperous states .... in order that these countries 
should not belong to a great military power/ ' 

The second fact is, that he who is acquainted with the 
history of Belgium through the ages — the unflinching 
character of its people, and the love for liberty and inde- 
pendence which successively inspired the victors of the 
battle of the Golden Spurs, the six hundred Franchi- 
montois who gave their lives to save Liege from the 
outrage of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, the 
revolt against Spain, the Brabant Revolution of 1789, 
the War of the Peasants against the " Sans-culottes, " 
and the citizens who fought Prince Frederick of Holland 
in the streets of Brussels — can reach but one conclusion: 
Belgians never will be slaves! 

1 See on the "case of Belgium" in the European war the book by 
J. M. Beck, The Evidence in the Case, New York, 1915, 2d ed. 

167 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The best work to be consulted on the history of Belgium 
is that by H. Pirenne, professor in the University of Ghent, 
entitled Histoire de Belgique, Vols. I-IV, Brussels, 1900-1911. 
The work is not yet complete: the fourth volume carries us 
down to 1648. Those wishing to study more in detail the 
various problems of Belgian history will find the enumeration 
of original sources and modern books in H. Pirenne, Biblio- 
graphie de Vhistoire de Belgiques, 2d ed., Brussels, 1902. For 
a list of books published since 1902 see the Belgian periodical 
Archives beiges, where the important books and articles on 
Belgian history are reviewed and discussed. 

Works written in English are the following: Demetrius C. 
Boulger, A History of Belgium, 2 vols., London, 1902-9; 
J. de C. MacDonnell, Belgium, Her Kings, Kingdom and 
People, London, 1914; R. C. K. Ensor, Belgium, New York 
and London [1915]. The work by Boulger is mainly based 
on the old work of Theodore Juste, Histoire de Belgique (new 
edition in 3 vols., Brussels, 1895), which is not up to date and 
cannot be compared with Pirenne's Histoire. The works 
by MacDonnell and Ensor deal especially with the contempo- 
rary history of Belgium, the former treating Belgian politics 
from the Catholic point of view, the latter being frequently 
ill informed and unjust toward the Catholic party. Both 
have their merits in dealing with the history of Belgium in 
the nineteenth century. Modern Belgium has also been 
studied by H. Charriaut, la Belgique moderne, Paris, 1910. 
This book offers much information, but contains many mis- 
statements. For social problems, see B. Seebohm Rowntree, 
Land and Labour: Lessons from Belgium, London, 1910. 
In French there exists an excellent survey of the most impor- 
tant periods of Belgian history, written by G. Kurth, 
la nationality beige, Brussels, 1913. 

A very readable book, well written and well illustrated, 
based on accurate historical information, and dealing with 
the history of Flanders in the largest sense of the word, is the 
work of Edward Neville Vose, The Spell of Flanders, Boston, 
Page Co., 1915. The author, describing the visit he made 
to various Flemish towns, gives a good account of the most 
striking facts of their history. 

168 



62 2 «**! 



<*. 







* > 



I : W 




° ^V £? 








,#^ 



<v <o o 







J" 



> V * 



\ I . 






>>,#' 









o 

■^o* 


> -* 


«*°<* 


^ 




V">^ 







^ * 



* ^ - 



^o J 




^ 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: j^ 2002 






0fcL%*\ 



PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIOI^ 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 










O. f. 



S>'%. 























. 









^^' 7 



